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and unfurnished.' Both expres sions appear to imply that the earth had a previous existence. It is true, the first verse says that, God created the heavens and the earth;' but we may suppose that it was not on one of the days of the Mosaick creation; for it is said, the heaven and the earth were created in the beginning;' and this verse has not the invariable announcement of the heavenly day's works, as it may be called, And God said.'

"Now, if it be admitted that the earth had a pre-existence, may it not have been inhabited by those tribes of animals whose remains have been discovered? And may it not have been overwhelmed by the waters of a flood, and have been made void? And may not the light of the sun have been darkened, and darkness cast upon the face of the deep? It may be said, that the creation of the sun was part of the work of the fourth day: but I cannot think that reasonable; for may we not suppose it was the revolution of the earth on its axis which divided the light from the darkness, and created even the first day? But if we admit that the sun (though, like the earth, it was originally created by God) had an existence previous to the Mosaick creation; when the Almighty command went forth Let there be light, the sun was instantly illuminated; and the same Divine authority causing the earth to revolve on its axis, the light was divided from the darkness. And this does not appear to be inconsistent with the mention of the sun on the fourth day, when God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, to divide the day from the night. If it be necessary that the sun should have been created on this day, it is equally necessary that the light should then, for the first time, be divided from the darkness, but indisputably that was performed on the first day; and why, therefore, may not the sun VOL. IX.-Ch. Adv.

have been created on the first day? and then the work of the fourth day will be the appearance of a plurality of lights, when the moon was created, and they were appointed for signs and for seasons, and for days and years; the moon being then ordained to move round the earth, and the earth to take its annual course round the sun. And in that case the sixteenth verse should be in a parenthesis, in which the creation of all the greater and lesser lights is recapitulated, as they were all necessary to complete the signs and the seasons, and so to perfect the Divine arrangements for the rule of the day and the night as to induce him to pronounce that it was good. And perhaps it is worth observing, that when God illumines the sun by his divine word, and simply divides the light from the darkness, the fact is only stated; but when he completes his merciful arrangement of signs and seasons for the use and comfort of man, he pronounces it is good.

"I would make only one remark more. God said, 'Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed after his kind, and the fruit tree yielding fruit;' and it is added, And the earth brought forth grass, and the herb yielding seed;' the waters, too, brought forth the living creatures that have life, and the fowls that fly in the open firmament of heaven;' and God commanded the earth to bring forth the living creature after his kind;' and it is added, 'God created every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly,' and God made the beast of the earth after his kind. We have here a regular gradation. In order to produce the vegetable tribes, the Divine Word merely endued the earth with the powers of vegetation: He also commanded the waters to bring forth abundantly the moving creatures, and that the earth should bring forth the living

2 P

From the Evangelical Magazine for April. "His mercy visits every house Who pay their night and morning vows." Family religion is very essential to individual piety; it makes the house a sanctuary, and the domestick circle a church, whose members are daily brought to the footstool of divine mercy in the posture of suppliants, and are by its engagements led to a knowledge of the spiritual wants and woes of man, and also of the source of their supply or removal; it is both a substitute for, and a preparative to, the publick services of the house of prayer at once filling the intervals of Sabbath engagements and giving a zest to their profitable perform ance in future. It recognises Jehovah as the author and giver of every good and perfect gift. It teaches dependence on Him for mercies needed; hope for mercies promised; submission for mercies delayed; gratitude for mercies received. It gives an impetus to duty, a scourge to idleness, a curb to inordinate passions. Its instructions are cautions to youth, stimulants to manhood, comforts to hoary age. Am I a master?-let family religion by me be established, enforced, perpetuated: it is my servants' instructor,* my servants'

* In Britain, a hireling or an appren. tice, is never offended by being called a servant. It is the detestable practice of slavery, (for slaves are commonly called servants by their owners,) which has rendered this term offensive to every freeborn American, whether man or woman, when applied to him or her. Ed. Ch. Adv.

friend, and may prove the instrument of my servants' salvation. Am I a parent?-let it be the privilege of my children to bow at the domestick altar. Family worship is a parent's boon-it is the children's blessing! Family religion ofttimes coils the silver chain of pure affection around the members of the Christian household, binds hand to hand, and heart to heart, in

"Union sweet and dear esteem,"

and calls forth from the lips of those who witness the harmony, the exclamation of the inspired Psalmist

"

Behold, how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!"

How highly important, then, must those engagements be which are so full of present pleasure, and so powerfully subservient to promote a progress to eternal felicity!-and yet how frequently, by professors of Christianity, are these duties wholly or partially neglected!

May it not be said of such individuals, "This their way is their folly?"-and may we not go even further and declare, "This their way is their sin ?" It is their folly

it is their sin. The God in whom we live, and move, and have our being, has an undoubted right to the morning and evening devotions of every Christian family, in its collected capacity. David blessed his household-so should the Christian master bless his. Every member of the domestick band, except those called round the holy altar. whom necessity prevents, should be called round the holy altar.

The prayer of associated supplicants may be presented with large hopes of success. "If two or three shall agree as touching any thing," &c.; and again-" Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name I will be in the midst of them to bless them."

Those who kneel at the family altar frequently discover a singular adaptation in the petitions of him

who leads their devotions to their individual necessities. Thus the expression and opportunity for prayer are at once presented, where, but for this exercise, perhaps, neither would be sought. Many a servant has regarded the devotional engagements of the family in which she has lived as the means of fixing serious impressions on her mind. Many a child has traced his convictions of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come, to the same instrumental cause. Many a visiter has been virtually reproved, admonished, and impelled to duty by the same instrumentality. Many a day has been brightened by the reconciled countenance of Jehovah,

sought and obtained at the family altar. Many a care has been lost, in the flame that has descended to consume the morning sacrifice!

And will any one who has tasted that the Lord is gracious, forbear to live in the full exercise of a privilege, so important as that to which this paper refers? Oh, let Joshua's resolution to serve the Lord with all bis house, be the decision of all; let the Christian tradesman so time his occupations as to be able to call together his domesticks, to offer to the Lord the first-fruits of the day, and to commend themselves to his

care at the approach of night; that while the hive of industry is richly stored with the produce of his diligence and labour, the family altar may never lack the morning and the evening sacrifice. And let those whose time is occupied in the more refined pursuits of a life of affluence, reflect that they can have no excuse for the habitual neglect of the duties of family religion; and, oh, that all who profess to be the followers of him who came into the world to save sinners, may use their influence, be it weak or powerful, to aid their families on the road to the heavenly Canaan, calling upon them, in imitation of the Psalmist, "Oh, come let us worship

and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.". SAMUEL.

EXTRACTS FROM DISCOURSES OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE REV. ROBERT HALL.

In the Eclectic Review for April last, (a Review to which the late

Mr. Hall had been a considerable

contributor,) we find a short notice of four funeral sermons, preached by the same number of individuals,

on the lamented death of that distinguished man. "Our only obticing these appropriate tributes of ject," say the Reviewers, "in nopublick grief and veneration for the memory of the great man to whose death they relate-in his own department at least the greatvert to the loss which the Christian est man of our own day-is to adworld has sustained." They subsequently give a hint which we are gratified to observe. "Other opportunities," say they, "will be afforded us, of dwelling on the character of Mr. Hall as a preacher, a writer, and an eminent servant of God." From one of the discourses, we insert the following striking ex

tract:

"It is true, the world has never been without its lights. Nor was all the genius of the land buried in the grave of Mr. Hall. Not only much of talent, but much of talented piety still remains. But when will both be blended in such high degrees again? First-rate genius, through a thousand transmigrations, will keep its being in the world; but when will it reassume that useful, godly form which it has just abandoned? When again will the purest living literature take the shape of a simple evangelical piety, that shall "not shun

to declare the whole counsel of God?” There may be another Hume, to poison the fountain of knowledge, that those who would slake their thirst for information

may drink a death-draught of infidelity; nius, like the lightning wrapt in an elethere may be another Voltaire, whose gement of tempestuous darkness, shall never

show itself but to appal, to blacken, or destroy; there may be another Byron, who, with an archangel's harp, but a satanick inspiration, shall utter sentiments for devils to applaud, in a poetry that seraphs may admire :-these, and far less appalling forms of intellectual greatness, may revisit the world. The bar and the senate, as they are stages in the road to power, may still display a throng of genius; but when shall we see another Hall, a voluntary exile from worldly greatness, with the hopes of no other reward than the Divine approbation and the luxury of doing good, expending his mighty powers in the lowly sphere of ministerial labour, to instruct and comfort the wretched and the lost?"

Another preacher, speaking of the death bed of Mr. Hall, communicates the following interesting thoughts; from one of which, however, unless qualified by explanation, we must enter our dissent,— that "the Son of Man himself experiences an augmentation of his bliss, when the purchase of his agonies first appears before him."

"The Scriptures teach us to believe, that the scene attracts the notice, and engages the attention of angels; these ministering spirits, who may have often smiled on him in his course, descend to guard the servant of God in his final conAict. The last effort of the malignant powers is about to be made; that contest which in the estimation of the expiring saint has so often appeared doubtful, is

about to close, the destination of an immortal being to be decided; the scene is carried on under the eye of a great cloud of witnesses; and the messengers of Jehovah will not abandon their trust, until they have watched the last effort, and crowned the combatant with success. Under the same auspices, we are taught to believe, that the liberated spirit ascends to the presence of the Saviour,"and it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom,"-although the pleasures of the ascending saint, the delight of his benevolent convoy, and the holy and august solemnities which are attendant on their entrance to the multitude of the redeemed, are enchanting parts of the stupendous subject which are concealed from us, as by a veil of light; but to imagine that such events occur unnoticed, or that they are but slightly felt, is at variance with their significance and magnitude, as well as with the interest which, as we are instructed to believe, the angels of God are accustomed to take in the previous history of the faithful. And may we not suppose, without presumption, that this law extends to the Son of Man himself, and that he of whom the prophet testifies,' He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied,' experiences an augmentation of bliss when the purchase of his agonies first appears before him? And surely if there be seasons of unusual joy, if there be occasions of deeper gratitude and of more rapturous welcome, such a season has recently occurred in heaven; and may not the elevation of their praises form a brilliant contrast to the profundity of our regret?"

AND DUTIES OF THE OFFICE OF
THE RULING ELDER, IN THE PRES-

BYTERIAN CHURCH. By Samuel Miller, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History and Church Government in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, N. J. New York: Jonathan Leavitt. Boston: Crocker & Brewster. 1831. 12mo. pp. 322.

We hasten to give notice to our readers of the publication of this essay. Such a work has long been a desideratum in the Presbyterian

from a quarter whence it was most desirable that it should proceedfrom a professor of church government in a Theological Seminary under the immediate direction of the supreme judicatory of our beloved church. Some of our correspondents urged us, years ago, to discuss the subject of this essay in our pages. We declined a compliance with the request, because we had not at command the time nor the facilities, which we knew would be necessary to a just and full treat

ment of this important subject. After we heard that Professor Miller was employed in preparing to publish a tract, or treatise, on the eldership of the Presbyterian church, we were gratified in thinking that our avoidance of the discussion would occasion no loss to the friends of the Presbyterian church. Dr. Miller is here on professional ground; and it is ground too which it appears he had taken before he was a professor, and every part of which his subsequent inquiries and reading must of course have led him to examine carefully and minutely. We shall, for the present month, do no more than lay before our readers the contents of this little volume, that they may see the various points which it embracesintending hereafter to review the whole as carefully as we can, and to express our opinion frankly on what we shall think most worthy of notice. In the mean time we hesitate not to say, that this is a work which, in our judgment, ought to be in the hands of every clergyman and every ruling elder in the Presbyterian church.

Chapter I-Introductory RemarksNature of the Church-Visible and Invisible Church-Unity of the Church-A form of government for the Church appointed by Christ-Nature and limits of ecclesiastical power-Summary of the doctrine of Presbyterians on this subject -The proper classes of officers in a Church completely organized-Positions intended to be established, as affording a warrant for the office of Ruling Elders.

Chapter II-Testimony from the order of the Old Testament Church-Import of the term Elder-Specimen of the representations given of this class of officersElders of the Synagogue-Authorities in reference to the government of the Synagogue-The titles, duties, number, mode of sitting, &c., of the Elders of the Synagogue-Quotations from distinguished writers on this subject-BurnetGoodwin-Lightfoot--Stilling fleet—Grotius-Spencer-Clarke-Neander.

Chapter III.-Evidence from the New Testament Scriptures-Model of the Synagogue transferred to the Church-Specimen of the passages which speak of the New Testament Elders-Particular texts

which establish the existence of this class of Elders in the primitive Church-Objections to our construction of these pas

sages-Answered.

tian

Dwight.

Chapter VIII-Ruling Elders necessary in the Church-The importance of Discipline to the purity of the ChurchDiscipline cannot be maintained without this class of officers, or persons of equiva lent powers-The Pastor alone cannot maintain it-The whole body of the Church cannot conduct it in a wise and happy manner-Prelatists and Independents both obliged to provide substitutes for them -This provision, however, inadequate.

Chapter IX.-Nature of the Ruling Elder's office-Analogy between their office and that of secular rulers-Their duties as members of the Church Session-Their more private and constant duties as "overseers" of the ChurchTheir duties as members of higher judicatories-Question discussed whether they ought to be called lay-Elders-Duties of the Church members to their EldersElders ought to have a particular seat assigned them.

Chapter X-Distinction between the office of Ruling Elder and Deacon-The persons whose appointment to take care of the poor is recorded in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, were the first Deacons-The question discussed, whether they were Deacons at all-Whether the first Deacons were preachers and