with such signal and general outpourings of the Holy Spirit on this people, who, but a few years ago, were strangers' and 'outcasts.' Blessed be God that many are already gathered to Shiloh, and many more are beginning to stretch out their hands to God.' The work has been greatly enlarged the last year. Three large and regular circuits are now established in the nation, and four stations with promising schools, in the midst of surrounding fields of missionary labour. Seven missionaries are employed in the nation this year. "The number of members in this nation has increased the last year to upwards of six hundred and seventy. Turtle Fields, the native preacher, has furnished an extraordinary example of the power of the gospel, both in the purity of his own life, and in the effects of his preaching. He is regularly admitted on trial in the travelling connexion, and employed on a circuit in the nation. This man, with hundreds of others, stands as demonstrative evidence that the gospel is capable of exerting its renovating and sanctifying energy over the hearts and lives of men, before human science and the arts of civilized life have prepared its way. We have a thousand living monuments before us, in proof that the gospel of Jesus Christ is suited to every condition of the human race; that, whether man be savage or civilized, it is the gospel of his salvation. "I would be more particular in detail of the great and blessed work which God has wrought in the Cherokee nation the last year, but for the assurance that the superietendent has not been deficient in this branch of his duty." Wyandot Mission.-Extracts of a letter from the Rev. Russel Bigelow, dated Mission House, U. Sandusky, Nov. 27, 1827: "It becomes my duty to report to you the state of the mission established among the Wyandots at Upper Sandusky, but my acquaintance with the place and people is not sufficient to enable me to give so full and particular a report as may be desired. I cannot, by comparing the present state of the mission with the past, determine whether there is an advancement or not. I reached here on the 19th day of last month. Our first quarterly meeting commenced the day after my arrival. We had a comfortable time, and have had some comfortable and interesting meetings since. There are a number of very pious persons in this tribe of Indians; persons who give sufficient and convincing evidence of their conversion to God; persons whose industry, economy, and integrity, are sufficient to silence every opposer of missions. I believe there are a goodly number of firm and established Christians. "We have a fine farm pretty well improved. Our buildings will be quite comfortable when they are a little repaired and improved, (except the kitchen-we think of building a new one,) which we are now doing. We have just got the upper apartment of our school house lathed and plastered. As the boys sleep in that apartment, they will be quite comfortable this winter. We shall be able to clothe the children pretty well; perhaps our greatest deficiency will be in blankets. Our school began three weeks ago with very few scholars, and we were told that we should not have more than twenty-five until after the return of the hunters; but we have succeeded better than we expected. We have thirty-two Wyandot scholars at this time, and I think we shall have forty within a fortnight more. I received a letter from brother Bangs, and in compliance with his request made a communication to the chiefs, which was satisfactory. They wished me to make known their satisfaction, and tender their thanks to all missionary societies and all individuals who have aided in the great work wrought among them. What will be our success this year is more than can now be determined. I hope the Lord will bless and prosper us. Pray for us in this wilderness." REVIVALS. THE Rev, Vernon Eskridge writes that upwards of seventy souls have been recently converted to God on the Amherst circuit, and added to the church. The Rev. G. K. Kane informs us that a gracious revival is going forward in York circuit, and that it has extended to the Sunday schools. Upwards of sixty have been added to the church since the session of the last Baltimore conference. Extract of a letter from the Rev. Thomas Samford, dated Nov. 29, 1827: “The Lord is doing great things in this country, [Georgia.] Religion pure and undefiled, we believe, may now be seen, not only in the church, at stated times, but on the farms, behind the counter, at the bar, and on the bench. Some of our courts are now opened with public prayer by the judge himself. In fine, the religion of Christ seems to be spreading through all this country. Oh Lord, hasten the time when millennial glory shall shine from east to west, and from north to south, and all the world bow to the sceptre of Jesus." Extract of a letter from the Rev. William Capers, dated Charleston, Dec. 8, 1827: "I am just from Georgia. The work there has been transcendant every way. The number of converts and characters converted, and since become thorough, warm hearted, and open mouthed Methodists, far exceed any former revival in the south." A letter from the Rev. H. Stead states that a gracious revival is progressing in Reading circuit, Conn. "Between forty and fifty have joined the church in the town of Wilton and Poplar Plains, and there are many more inquiring what they must do to be saved. We have also had convictions, conversions, and According to information received from the Rev. A. Turner, dated Warren circuit, Dec. 11, 1827, that circuit has been unusually blessed. About four hundred have been added to our ranks this year. "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all within me praise his holy POETRY. ANGEL VISITS. Are ye for ever to your skies departed? Now are the fountains dried on that sweet spot, Yet, by your shining eyes not all forsaken, Trembling he woke, and bow'd o'er glory's trace, And worshipp'd, awe-struck, in that fearful place. By Chebar's brook ye pass'd, such radiance wearing, As mortal vision might but ill endure; * Ezek. i. And the dread rushing of your wings that hour, Whose was the voice that came, divinely Fraught with the breath of God to aid his Son ?Haply of those who on the moonlit plains, Wafted good tidings unto Syrian swains. Yet one more task was yours!-your heavenly dwelling Ye left, and by th' unseal'd sepulchral stone Now have ye left us for the brighter shore, Are ye not near when faith and hope rise high, One, one is near,-a Spirit holier still! NO. 3.] FOR MARCH, 1828. DIVINITY. [VOL. 11. THE MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY: A SERMON. (Concluded from page 52.) more As a revelation from God, then, the Scriptures are the " sure word." We mean by this, that the evidence of their being such a revelation, is better confirmed, and more to be relied on, than any thing connected with our feelings only. We admit, indeed, that if the individual alone were concerned in what was about to be revealed, the impression might be made sufficiently strong and distinct, to constitute it a rule of action. Thus, when God spake to Abraham, for example, and told him to "get out of his country, and from his kindred, and that he would make him a great nation," the impression was distinctly understood by him; and as he alone was concerned in the act to be immediately performed, nothing more was essential :-the fulfilment of the promise was sufficient to show to succeeding generations that he was under the divine guidance, when it was important that they should be convinced of it. But had others been concerned in the act to be immediately performed, the impression he had, however clear and distinct, would not have been sufficient to convince them of their duty. Hence, on the other hand, when the Lord directed Moses to go to the people of Israel, (for the purpose of leading them out of the land of bondage,) and to say to them, "The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you," &c, Exod. iii, 15; "Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, the Lord hath not appeared unto thee," Ex. iv, 1. Nor was he censured for this; but the Lord caused the rod in his hand to become a serpent, to satisfy him that he should be enabled to maintain the divinity of his mission, by the power of working miracles. Evidence equivalent to this, is required, by universal consent, in order to support any thing, as a revelation from God, which claims the faith and obedience of the multitude. The constant appeals of our Lord, to the miracles he wrought, as evidence that he taught the things of God; the concessions of Nicodemus and others; the clamours of the Jews in asking a sign, and their arts to dispose of his "mighty works” without acknowledging him the Messiah, all prove that external evidence was universally required to support a revelation from God. And the circumstance, that Christians suspend the cause of revelation upon such evidence at the present day, and that infidels unite all their energies to dispose of it, confirms the senVOL. XI. February, 1828. 9 timent. In this view of the subject, who can give the preference to "the light within" as the "more sure word of prophecy?" We wish to be distinctly understood in this matter. It is not our intention to say, that any of the operations of the Spirit, so far as they are designed to influence us as individuals, are not sure. If men tell us that they feel the awakening influences of the Spirit, or the comforts of the Holy Ghost, or are moved by it to warn sinners to flee the wrath to come, or that they have had some extraordinary manifestation from the Lord to strengthen their faith, we ask no miracle to convince us of the truth of what they say. If their lives and tempers correspond with their professions, we may consistently believe them. And all these feelings, we perceive, may agree with the true dictates of the Spirit. But should they go one step farther, and say that they had a revelation from God, and had come to instruct us in our duty, claiming that the thing itself, as well as the duty to observe it, depended wholly upon the revelation made to them, we should justly claim better evidence of its being a revelation from God, than any solemn declarations they could make of their being divinely inspired. If the "light within" be a sufficient revelation from God, for both teachers and learners, then all the evidence which has been furnished in support of the sacred Scriptures is to no purpose. Miracles have been wrought in vain, and prophets have been inspired only to give us a history of the Spirit's operations in other times. We say, then, that as a revelation from God, containing a rule of faith and practice, the Scriptures are not only the most sure, but the only "sure word of prophecy." And they who would direct you to another guide, would deceive you, and ought to be avoided. This "word," whose divinity is so amply supported, is "sure," as it respects the fulfilment of its predictions. This is a sublime and interesting thought. History and recollection inform us of many things that are past. The book of God only is a true history of that which is to come. And true it is! No one of its predictions, whose fulfilment was fixed anterior to this time, has failed. Of the rise, the vicissitudes, and fall of nations; of the character and the advent of the Messiah; of every thing upon which prophecy has deigned to put its discriminating mark, we may trace a perfect history in the prediction itself. Should an individual announce the approach of awful and interesting events, and give no other evidence of his being inspired to do so, than merely the exercise of his own feelings, we should justly treat his prediction as a wild infatuation. But "the sure word," supported by evidence which we cannot resist, raises us to an elevation, where future events are spread before us, like the grandeur of a boundless landscape to the eye of a traveller, from the mountain's summit. We can no longer doubt the certainty of what, without this aid, must have remained matter of mere conjecture. We see the rise and spread of the Redeemer's kingdom. Many are running to and fro, and knowledge is increased. The beast, and false prophets, and the whole army of infidels, are contending-now apparently succeeding, and now vanquished, until they are wasted away in the fight. Peace is given to the saints, and the knowledge of the glory of God fills the whole earth. We see, too, the end of the conflict. The dark cloud which has covered the tomb disappears. The divine Saviour declared, with a majesty which hushes the world into a listening silence, "All that are in their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth." "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God." "The sun shall be darkened," when his last rays shall have been converted into streams of fire, and "the elements shall melt with fervent heat." "The earth, also, and the things which are therein, shall be burned up." "And the dead small and great shall stand before God." "Seeing then, brethren, that we look for such things," according to the "sure word of prophecy," "let us be diligent," and not listen to the visionary pretensions of such as say, "the resurrection is past already, and have," thereby, "overthrown the faith of some." The conditions and promises of the "word" are as sure as are its predictions. The benevolent Author of it never said to the broken hearted and oppressed, "seek ye my face in vain." "He that seeketh, findeth." "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Yes, brethren, the gospel gives great encouragement to come to the Lord in the day of trouble; as we are every where in the blessed word assured, that we shall not be forsaken nor cast out. To that word I direct you. It is too well confirmed to admit of a doubt. You may rest your all upon it. It promises a rest-an eternal weight of glory, to all who spend the days of their sojourning below in meekness and fear. And here let me add, that it is as "sure" in its threatenings, as it is in its promises. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven-taking vengeance on all them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction, from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power." We will only add, that this "word of prophecy" is sure, in its adaptation to all the purposes for which it was designed. "It is a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart." There is no purpose or emotion of the soul, to which it does not extend, to detect what is wrong, and approve what is right. As a "perfect law," all internal operations must consist with it, or they are not right. Every emotion, purpose, word and action, must be brought to this test; and nothing can be admitted as the |