our faith and practice, and a lamp to our path. And finally God grant that the brightness of his glory which arose in the east, may attain to the south, extend to the west and elsewhere until darkness and error shall be exterminated from the whole creation.

LEMUEL WILLIS, Clerk.

MISCELLANEOUS..

A new Meeting-house has recently been erected in Chatham, Mass. and on the 19th of May, was dedicated to the worship of the living God. On the same day, Br. Calvin Monroe was set apart to the pastoral care of the Universalist Society in that place, and who worship in that house. services were performed by Brs. Sebastian Streeter, Paul Dean, and David Pickering.

The

Seven new Universalist Societies have lately been organized in the State of Maine, namely; one in each of the towns of Readfield, New-Sharon, Freeman, Canton, Livermore, Strong, and Union.

A new Religious Society has recently been formed in Swanzey, N. H. by the name of "The Universalian Society of Swanzey."

Br. Sebastian Streeter has removed from Portsmouth to Boston, and was installed, on the 13th of May, pastor of the first Universalist church and society in that city. Br. Russel Streeter preached the installation sermon.

Br. Edward Turnerh as removed from Charlestown to Portsmouth, and ministers to the society in that town, as the successor of Br. Streeter.

Br. William Morse was ordained to the work of the ministry and pastoral charge of the second Independent Church of Christ, called Universalists, in the Northern Liberties of the city of Philadelphia, June 10th,

Newspapers newly commenced.-The VERMONT AURORA is published weekly at Vergennes. The first number, issued July 1.

The OXFORD OBSERVER is published at Paris, Me. and is a weekly publication, which commenced July 8th. Both these papers have been received at this Office, and appear to promise usefulness.

OBITUARY.

Died, in Woodstock, June 18th, Mrs. POLLY C. KENDALL, wife of Mr. David Kendall, aged 49, after a painful illness of nine months. Her pains were borne with the utmost forti. tude, and blest with the exercise of her reason, she continued to the last, in the full enjoyment of an unshaken belief in the final restoration and happiness of all mankind, and left the world with a fixed smile upon her countenance, which even death itself had not the power to eradicate. Wood. Observer.

Drowned, at Monkton, May 28, Mr. HIRAM HART, son of Mr. Simeon Hart, aged 20 years, 1 month, and 28 days. Thus the solace and expectation of affectionate parents were cut off as in a moment.

Died, at Reading, July 17, Mr. JOSEPH ACKLEY, in the 82d year of his age.

From the Christian Register.

MORNING PRAYER.

O God, I thank thee that this night
In peace and rest hath pass'd away;
And that I see, in this fair light,
My Father's smiles that make it day.
Be thou my guide, and let me live
As under thine all-seeing eye;
Supply my wants, my sins forgive,
And make me happy when I die.

EVENING PRAYER.

Another day its course hath run,
And still, O Ged, thy child is bless'd;
For thou hast been, by day, my sun,
And thou wilt be, by night, my rest.
Sweet sleep descends my eyes to close
And now, while all the world is still,
I give my body to repose,

My spirit to my Father's will.

To Correspondents. Communications are on hand from Evangelion, J. J. J, Salathiel, and some others; most of which will be attended to in our next.

No. 3.

OCTOBER, 1824.

SERMON, NO. XVIII.

VOL V.

Deuteronomy vii. 6. "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth."

The history of the nation to whom these words allude, has always been read with considerable interest; and if I may be indulged in a remark, in the truth of which I firmly believe, their history will become more and more interesting, as we approach the period of their deliverance from the darkness and unbelief under which they yet labor. The Jews, if any history may be credited, have been distinguished by the peculiar care of heaven; they have witnessed the special dealings of divine providence towards themselves as a people; and in them the text has received fulfilment, as they have been "a special people unto God above all people that are upon the face of the earth."

The general history of this singular nation cannot well be disputed. All accounts, sacred and profane, whether written by Jews, Christians, or Pagans, agree that they came up out of Egypt, where their ancestors and the original head of the nation had sojourned, until oppression and tyranny were overruled by divine wisdom to raise up for them a deliverer in the person of Moses. These historical circumstances have not often been doubted; much less disproved. That the Israelites, after leaving Egypt, received a law, which contributed to distinguish them from all other nations, is another prominent fact in their history. That this law recognized the unity, the eternity, and unchangeableness of God, will be perceived by the most superficial reader; and that the whole economy of the Jewish dispensation was ordained to purify divine worship from the contaminations of idolatry, and by means of the

people to whom the law was given, to extend the knowledge of the true God to surrounding nations, are objects plainly expressed in those accounts of the descendants of Jacob, which for various reasons deserve the highest credit.

In discoursing upon the passage which we have selected, and briefly introduced, we shall observe the order prescribed in it. First. The children of Israel were a holy people unto the Lord their God. Secondly, they were chosen or elected to be a special people unto the Lord their God, above all people upon earth.

From the want of a careful attention to terms, and from not noticing the different senses, in which the same word is frequently used, we find difficulties in reading, and often read without edification. An instance of this may be found in reading the text. We are so accustomed to consider holiness as a property of the heart, purely moral, because the writings of Christians, with which we are principally conversant, consider the term in that sense, that let us find it where we may, we are apt to attach to it the meaning to which we are the most habituated. The mind, in such cases, forms a false association of ideas, false, I say, because it leads We transfer the evangelical idea of holiness to an object, to which it could seldom be properly and truly applied and in this way we do much to set the Bible at variance with itself, and furnish arms for infidelity. What! The house of Israel a holy people, and a peculiar nation to God above all others upon earth! That people so given to rebellion, so inelined to every species of licentiousness! Idolaters, worshipping the host of heaven, and bowing down to Moloch and Baal-Peor! Impossible. It contradicts fact, and therefore deserves no credit.

us into error.

I have more than once had occasion to observe, that any interpretation of scripture which makes it disagree with known and acknowledged facts ought to be disallowed. But then it must be granted, that some allow

ance should be made for the different senses, in which words are used, at different times, and under different circumstances. This is a rule that is applicable to all concerns, of a civil, social, or political nature, and upon an adherence to it, depends much of that good understanding, which we are pleased to see cultivated in society. If then, we prove that holiness does not always denote moral character, and that in the instance before us there was no necessity that it should mean that, we shall free the scripture from the charge of inconsistency and contradiction, and prepare the way for a more full and lucid interpretation of the text.

An argument of great weight here, and which alone might be allowed to decide the question is, that inanimate things, which neither have nor can possess moral properties are, in innumerable instances, denominated. holy. The gifts, brought to the altar, the altar itself, the crown that Aaron wore, the ointment, the tythes, the water, the tabernacle and all its instruments and furniture; bore this distinguishing appellation. They were all holy, and holy unto the Lord. If this epithet, then, could be bestowed upon inanimate things, which in another sense of the term, can neither be holy nor unholy, it might, with great propriety, be given to a people, without necessarily supposing it to derate their moral character. And this will appear still more evident, if we can show that the divine purpose, in making Israel a holy nation, did not, of necessity, require, that they should be so in a strictly moral or evangelical sense or that the design of providence in electing Israel to peculiar privileges, could be answered, without a strict and universal conformity to moral holiness. The subject requires. that all this should be clearly proved. ;

The primitive meaning of the word HOLY, is that which is sanctified, separated, or set apart. This will appear from a few considerations. The utensils of the