Washington, Pa. Do. Do. do. Additional do. Wheeling, Va. Cross Roads, Pa. Cross Creek, Pa. Buffalo, Pa. do. do. do. 28 00 35 00 11 50 Do. Additional do. Rev. W. C. Anderson 46 63 Mercer, Pa. Rev. Mr. Campfield, Ass. Sec. 25 25 Erie, Pa. Do. Monthly conc. do. do. 15 11 12 39 North East, Pa. Do. do. Rev. Mr. Campfield, Ass. Sec. 2 50 Meadville, Pa. do. 42 81 Do. Monthly conc. do. Mr. Bushnel 22 00 Butler, Pa. Do. do. Mount Prospect, Pa. Do. do. Rev. Mr. Campfield, Ass. Sec. Lower Bethel, Va. Do. do. do. 22 67 Claysville, Pa. Do. do. do. 6 00 Pigeon Creek, Pa. Do. do. do. 7 00 Canonsburgh, Pa. Donation from the Students of Jefferson College, per Rev. Mr. Campfield, Ass. Sec. 26 00 Do. Washington, Pa. Donation of Miss Jane Orr, in behalf of the Female 6 00 5 50 856 26 New York, N. Y. From an individual with the initials A. E., for the purpose of purchasing Tracts, to be distributed by a missionary of the Assembly's Board in Florida, per Rev. Dr. Green Jamaica, N. Y. Donation from Eliphalet Wickes, Esq. per Rev. Dr. Ely Germantown, Pa. Missionary Box kept at the Manual Labour Academy, by Philadelphia, Pa. Pittsburgh, Pa. $24 45 20 00 45 45 South Salem, Westchester Co. N. Y. Donation from Mrs. Molly Northrop, per Utica, N. Y. Collection in Presbyterian Church, per Rev. J. Burckard $24 63 Yellow Creek, Do. Do. *do. 7.00 Youngstown, Trumbull Co. Ohio Do. do. 1 25 Poland, Do. Do. do. 3 00 Hopewell Congregation, Mercer Co. Pa. Do. do. 8 75 49 63 Missionary Reporter. Amount from sundry subscribers 53 33 $1167 32 SOLOMON ALLEN, Treasurer, No. 18, South Third Street. View of Publick Affairs. Intelligence from Europe, of the 30th of September, and the 1st of October, is the most recent which the publick papers have announced, at the time we write. Nor does this intelligence, except in a single article, add much to that which we chronicled in our last number. We shall, therefore, make our statement for the present month, shorter, and more general, than we are wont to do in common-We know, that not a few of our readers, look with considerable interest into this department of our work, and we endeavour to gratify them as often as we can; but we cannot make news, This is a kind of manufacture, of which there is indeed, a good deal occasionally in the market, but it is one, in which our hands shall, if we can help it, never be employed. The important article of news to which we have referred, relates to the victorious progress of the Russian armies-They continue to be victorious both in Asia and Europe. In our last number, we offered a conjecture, that General Diebitsch would march on Constantinople, and leave Adrianople in his rear. Our conjecture was founded on the expectation, that there was a formidable Turkish force in the latter place, which he would wish to draw into the open field, rather than attack it in strong military works. But the wily Russian, by publishing a proclamation, that his army should do no injury to those who manifested no hostility, gained the Turks themselves to his cause; and it appears, that the inhabitants of Adrianople, who had been extremely harassed by the Asiatick soldiery of the Sultan, and even many of the troops themselves, really wished for the arrival of the Russians. This doubtless became known to Diebitsch, and he rapidly marched to Adrianople, was met with a welcome by the authorities of the place, and entered it, as he states himself, in his official dispatch, “without a shot." He immediately detached a strong corps of his army towards the fortresses on the Dardanelles, and pushed forward the advance of his army, with the terrifick Cossacks in front, to menace the Sultan's capital: In the mean time, there had been an attempt at insurrection in Constantinople, by some remnants of the old Janissaries and their friends, which was with some difficulty subdued, after shedding much blood; and the Sultan probably perceived that his own head was in danger, if he continued the war-Indeed, it was palpable, that he was completely in the power of his enemy; for even a retreat into Asia, would not long have afforded him safely. He sued for peace, under the mediation of the British and French ambassadors. Diebitsch insisted only on the terms which his master declared he would obtain, when he published his war manifesto: And at one time, the advices received from Europe, led to a confident belief in this country, that the preliminaries of peace were actually settled. The last accounts however, show, that this was not the fact-That the Turkish plenipotentiaries would not agree to the amount of indemnities that the Russian general insisted on, for the expenses of the war-had retired for new instructions to Constantinople, and that Diebitsch had given notice, that if his terms were not complied with by the 14th of September, he would march for Constantinople Such was the posture of affairs according to the despatches from the theatre of war, as stated in the papers from London and Paris, which have been received by the last arrivals. The whole business is probably settled before now; but we must wait to know in what precise manner it has been terminated. One thing is evident-The Ottoman power, humanly speaking, can never again be formidable. It does not appear, that any of the Christian powers have, as yet, taken that animated interest in favour of the Turk, which we had anticipated, and which it seems to have been the expectation of all Europe, would be manifested, if Russia was likely to be triumphant. The British Parliament had been prorogued to the 15th of October, and, of course, was in recess, when the last vessels which have arrived from London and Liverpool, left those places. It now appears, that the crops of the last harvest in England, have been from a fifth to a fourth less, than in common years; and, that unusual falls of rain have laid the low lands under water, to the great distress and loss of the farmers. France is still greatly agitated, in consequence of the appointment of the new ministry-insomuch, that by some, a renewal of the scenes of the revolution is apprehended, if a change in the ministry is not speedily made. Our country's friend, La Fayette, is now the most popular man in France-What a changeful world do we live in! He had lately an occasion to make a long journey, and in the towns through which he passed, he was received with much the same enthusiasm and manifestation of attachment, that attended him wherever he went, in the United States An article before us says "La Fayette could mount the throne of France with the utmost ease." We question this; but we have no question that he is both too wise and too good to make the attempt. The past month has been barren of domestick news. The foolish expedition of the Spaniards against Mexico, bas terminated, as every man of any sense expected that it Would-except that the Spanish capitulating army have obtained better terms than it was believed by many that the Mexicans would grant them. They are to leave the .country, and to take with them what they brought—A large number have died of the diseases of the climate. ERRATUM IN OUR PRESENT NUMBER. Page 519, line 27 from bottom, for More than six-and-thirty thousand, read, Nearly thirty thousand. This error was occasioned by mistaking the number of Bibles distributed, for the number of dollars expended in their purchase. THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. DECEMBER, 1829. Keligious Communications. LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER AS us was delivered to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. But this opinion, SEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED although adopted and defended by TO YOUTH. LECTURE XLIV. In our last lecture I endeavoured to show that the fourth commandment of the decalogue is moral, in the highest and strictest sense of the word; and that it is, of course, of perpetual obligation-requiring us to keep holy to God all such set seasons as he hath appointed in his word, and especially to consecrate to his exclusive service one whole day in seven. Which day of the week ought to be thus consecrated to God, we are now to consider. On this point the statement of our Catechism is, that-" From the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian sabbath." There are some, my young friends, who explicitly deny the truth of the first part of this statement; that is, they deny that the obligation to observe the seventh day of the week as a sabbath, was coeval with the completion of the work of creation, or from the begin ning of the world. They insist that it had no other or earlier origin, than the time when the command before VOL. VII.-Ch. Adv. some men of eminence in the church, appears to me to be in direct opposition to the sacred record, (Gen. ii. 2, 3,) where it is said, "And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested the seventh day from all his work which he had made; and God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Those who deny the primeval institution of the sabbath say, that the blessing here pronounced on the seventh day, and its sanctification as a day of holy rest, was proleptical; that is, God then ordained that at some future time-and according to these interpreters, that time was then more than two thousand years distantthe seventh day should be kept holy, and that a blessing should then attend its observance. I must say, that this appears to me one of the harshest and most forced interpretations of a plain passage of scripture that I have ever seen. The reason assigned for God's blessing the sabbath day is, that on it he rested from all his work, and the text distinctly implies that at that time he blessed and sanctified it. His resting from his work, and his blessing and sanctifying the day of rest, are represented as cotem 3 X poraneous. The language in which both facts are announced relates to one and the same period. Yet those from whom we differ in this matter, construe the language in relation to the fact literally, in the present time, and the language relative to the benediction and sanctification of the day figuratively, as referring to future time-future by the space of two thousand five hundred years. This, my dear youth, is taking such a liberty with the language of sacred scripture as I deem altogether unwarrantable: and I feel it to be my duty to warn you, not to listen to any such interpretation of any part of the oracles of God, let it come from whomsoever it may. Its direct tendency is to discredit divine revelation, by exhibiting it as a doubtful and uncertain guide. Beside, in the present instance, if resting from his work on the seventh day was the reason that God sanctified and blessed it-and this is affirmed in the fourth commandment, as well as in the passage I have quoted-this reason was as powerful for the religious observance of the day, before the time of Moses, as after it. God had a church in the world, as really then as afterwards; and without some specified time for his worship, it would soon have fallen into general, and at last, into total neglect; for the whole experience of the world establishes the position, that religious worship, whether private or publick, will not long be continued, unless set seasons be appointed for its performance. Nor is it at all reasonable to suppose, that through the long period of the patriarchal dispensation, the people of God were denied the inestimable privilege of that sabbatical institution, which his church has ever since enjoyed. The only reason assigned by those who adopt the strange opinion to which I have adverted is, that the scripture is wholly silent, in regard to the observance of the sabbath, from the time of the creation till the Exodus from Egypt. Suppose the fact to be exactly as this objection states, and we may still maintain that it is wholly without weight. We do not read of any observance of the sabbath, during the whole time of the Hebrew judges-a space of about four hundred and fifty years; and yet our opponents themselves do not question that it was observed through the whole of that period. The truth is, the history of the church, in the early ages of the world, is so brief and summary, that its silence in regard to a particular fact, is no conclusive evidence that such fact did not take place-It is not even a strong presumption against the existence of any fact, which is rendered probable by other evidence. But brief and comprehensive as are the records of the Pentateuch, we do by no means admit that it contains no intimations, or evidence, that a sabbath was observed, even from the days of our first parents. We read, Gen. iv. 3, 4, that "in process of time," Cain and Abel brought their offerings to the Lord. The phrase "process of time," when literally rendered from the Hebrew is, "at the end of days;" and this is the marginal reading in our common translation. Now "the end of days," here mentioned, appears to refer to some period by which time was then measured; and it is highly probable, as many judicious criticks have observed, that it refers to the end of the week, or the day on which the week terminated, which was the seventh-reckoning weeks from the day on which God rested from his work. Again. In Gen. viii. 6-12, we have a remarkable account of the sending forth of a raven, and a dove, by Noah, to ascertain whether the waters of the flood had so subsided as to permit his leaving the ark. Three experiments were made, and it appears that there was an interval of seven days between each. On this the judicious Scott remarks -"The repeated mention of seven days, seems an intimation of the observance of the sabbath in the ark; after the ordinances of which, the dove was sent out." Farther-There is positive evidence that a sabbath was observed by the Hebrews before their arrival at Mount Sinai, and the giving of the decalogue, of which the fourth commandment is a part. When the Israelites were in the wilderness of Sin, which was some time before they entered the wilderness of Sinai, we find that the sabbath was observed. There is a particular account of this, with an especial reference to the gathering and preservation of the Manna, in the sixteenth chapter of the book of Exodus, which you may read at your leisure. Scott's commentary on this transaction is as follows "It is remarkable that three miracles were wrought every week in honour of the sabbath, even before the promulgation of the Mosaick law. Double the quantity [of Manna] fell the day before; none fell on the sabbath day; nor did that stink which they kept for that day. This confirms the supposition that the institution of the sabbath was from the beginning," If it be alleged, as it has been by some, that the sabbath was first instituted at this very time; that is, while the Israelites were in the wilderness of Sin, we reply, that the allegation is made, not only without evidence, but in opposition to all the evidence which exists in the case. There is no intimation whatever of a new institution or ordinance then appointed and introduced; but on the contrary, the language of Moses most naturally imports, that he reminded them of a divine appointment, of which they had before been apprized. In Egypt they had no doubt been compelled by their tyrannical prince, and his rigorous task-masters, to violate the sabbath, and perhaps had so long neglected its appropriate duties, as to be in a great measure ignorant of themThey had doubtless been accustomed to perform servile labour on this sacred day, and needed to be particularly instructed and guarded on this point. This was done by the divine dispensation in regard to the Manna, and at the same time Moses took occasion to teach them, that the whole day was to be spent in the immediate service of God. Once more. "The division of time into weeks, or periods of seven days, which obtained so early and almost universally, is a strong indication that one day in seven was always distinguished in a particular manner. WEEK, and seven days, are in scripture language synonymous terms-This septenary division of time has been, from the earliest ages, uniformly observed over all the eastern world. The Israelites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Indians, Arabians, and Persians, have always made use of a week, consisting of seven days. Many vain attempts have been made to account for this uniformity; but a practice so general and prevalent could never have taken place, had not the septenary division of time been instituted from the beginning, and handed down by tradition. It has been supposed by some, that the heathens borrowed the notion of the sacredness of the seventh day from the Jews. But this opinion will not readily be admitted, when it is considered that the Jews were held in the greatest contempt by the surrounding nations, who derided them no less for their sabbaths than for their circumcision. All sorts of writers ridiculed them on this account.”* On the whole, therefore, there is satisfactory evidence, that the law of the sabbath was, with other moral laws, revealed to our first pa Encyclopædia article Sabbath, |