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Saviour, in his poverty, was pised by the rich and the worldly great! How will it warm the, othwife, frozen heart, to open the hand of liberality, and scatter its refreshing bleffings on all around! How will it open wide and stretch out the cheerful, fupporting hand to God's ministers bid them go on, in the ftrength of the Lord, and feek the falvation of those, who are madly running into ruin, and perishing in darknefs! It was this ftrengthening of the Lord Jefus, Angelina, which supported and comforted the pious Lazarus, more than any earthly aid could have done, when full of fores, with his wounds all open to the air and the dust, and nothing to cover them, he was laid, at the proud finner's gate, helplefs and friendlefs; "And defiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from his plentiful table." For, the very "dogs," as if more compaffionate than this hardened wretch, "came and licked his fores." Yet Lazarus, friendlessand forlorn, poor Lazarus, whom nobody would pity, ragged and fick, begging for crumbs

the glorious Redeemer is fo ex-
ceedingly precious to the believer's
foul; for he is his life-his de-
pendence-his ftrength, and, in
fhort, the foundation of all his hap-
piness and glory. Let him there-
fore, forever be endeared to thy
foul, as "the chiefeft among ten
thousand, and altogether lovely."

"When all thy mercies, O my God,
"My rifing foul surveys;
"Tranfported with the view, I'm loft
"In wonder, love and praife."
AMANA.

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1001, NE Milford, oth refigned; not a curfe proceeded chufetts, the Rev. David Long. from his heart against the unpity- The Rev. Edmund Mills of Suting Dives-not a fingle murmur ton made the introductory prayer; from his lips, why has God dealt the Rev. Walter Harris of Dunthus with me? He knew how to barton (N. H.) preached the ferbe abafed. The Lord Jefus mon; the Rev. David Sanford ftrengthened him. He was al- of Medway made the confecrating ready a new-born fon of God; prayer; the Rev. Nathaniel Emand shortly after angels came, and mons, D. D. of Franklin gave the conducted him, to a throne of glo- charge; the Rev. Caleb Alexander ry, in heaven, where he fhall reign of Mendon gave the right hand of with Chrift, in his kingdom, for- fellowship; and the Rev. John ever and ever. The ftrengthen-Cleaveland of Wrentham made the ing power of Chrift none but faints concluding prayer. can feel. The foul-humbling energy-the sweetness and the glory of divine grace, never can be realized by the ungodly. It is therefore, Angelina, no wonder that

The agreement of the people in the choice of their Paftor, and the uncommon religious attention now prevailing among them, are grounds of joy to all good people.

1.

POETRY.

COMMUNICATED AS ORIGINAL.

Thoughts on a thunder Storm.

H

ARK, from the heav'ns th' Al-
mighty roars;

In awful ftreams his lightnings fly;
His angry terrors down he pours,
And wings his vengeance thro' the sky,
2. Think clouds are for his carpet fpread
And hide the day beneath his feet;
Heav'n hung in fable speaks his dread,
And thunders loud th' alarm repeat,
3. In vain fhall frighted Cæfar hide,*
And haughty tyrants fly the flame;
Terrors furprise the fons of pride,
Aghaft at thy tremendous name.

4. What tho' the fcenes, which hang the sky,

Spread univerfal trembling round,
Deifts lie quaking, Atheists die,
And all fall proftrate to the ground:

5. Thefe but a faint refemblance are, A feeble fhade, a lifelefs die,

To what the final day fhall wear,

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When blazing lightnings fheet the fky; 5. On Zion's heights they ftand,

6. When thunders wake the wafted

dead,

And flames intenfe fhall fire the pole, Diffolve the earth, like molton lead, And roll the heavens, as a fcroll.

7. Yet these profufe difplays of God Are but a preface to the day, An herald to proclaim abroad, That Chrift, the Judge, is on his way. 8. When he appears, his guilty foes Shall bid th' inflamed earth, in vain, Deep from its center to difclofe, To thield them from a fiercer pain. 9. Buried beneath the molten rocks, And liquid mountains they would lie,

Hiftory informs us that one of the Cajars was fo terrified with thunder that be fometimes crept under his bed thro' fear.

The mystery of grace unfold; Set forth his high command, To faints more precious far than gold. 6. To faints thefe courts afford Pleafures more pure than those of fenfe :

Sweet converfe with their Lord,
"Till he, in love, fhall call them
hence.

7. Oh! How I love the place,
Where Chrift commands his flock

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Donation to the Miffionary Society of Connecticut.

A.

Nathaniel Hubbard of Bolton,

50 Dollars

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TO THE EDITORS OF THE CON- ligious people, and is therefore

NECTICUT EVANGELICAL MAG

AZINE.

On the Special operations of the
Holy Spirit.

T

GENTLEMEN,

worthy of notice.

Being affured, that the attention of fome, heretofore in confiderate minds, has been late

" and it must be the work of the

66

ly excited to this fubject by the narratives you have published; and feeling its importance, while I recollect the folemn obfervations HE usefulness of your Mag- of a late author in thefe words: azine exceeds the expecta-Fallen creatures have no better tions of its friends. The narratives of the revival of Religion in principle than depraved felf-love, fundry places, awake the attention of many to the much neglected, tho' all-important truths of the Bible. In these narratives, the doctrine of a special operation of God's fpirit on the human heart, is fully fupported. This is a doctrine greatly difrelished by the carnal mind, and through ignorance of the nature and extent of moral depravity, perfeveringly oppofed. It is faid, that all men have the Spirit of God alike—that there is no need of his special influence for a holy life, and that all that is faid in the narratives concerning his extraordinary operations, is mere pretence and delufion.-This is faid, not by open Infidels alone, but by fome that are confidered re

VOL. II. No. 2.

Holy Spiritto create them to new "and holy affections. Torefift or "deny the Spirit of God is fhut"ting the door of the kingdom of "Heaven, and deftroying to our"felves the efficacy of the gospel. "All thofe who deny the work "of the Spirit make the gospel as "inefficacious for their own fal"vation as if they were to deny "Chrift himfelf :" I fay feeling the importance of this fubject, I am earneftly folicitious, that in narratives, fomething may be faid addition to what appears in the exprefsly upon it. I do not feel as though I fhould do ample justice following obfervations unrefervedto the fubject, but I fubmit the

F

ly to your infpection and difpo- | of righteousness and of judgment: fal.

This is effected in the awaken

ing, renewing and fanctifying of the foul. Hence, unlefs all are awakened, renewed or fanctified, all have not the fpirit, and those who are awakened, &c. are the fubjects of its extraordinary operations. This confideration, in conjunction with what has been faid above on depravity, is, if candidly viewed, fufficient to refute all that is objected against the doc

trine.

But it may be profitable to purfue the matter further. And here may be noticed what St. Paul fays, No man fpeaking by the Spirit calleth Fefus accurfed. But if allmen have the Spirit they speak by it, and yet Jews and Deifts are daily calling Jefus accurfed; furethey have not the Spirit.

It is admitted that all men have natural powers, fufficient to accept of Chrift, and to lead a holy and religious life; and that all men have the Spirit of God, as he is a Spirit, and every where prefent. Nor will I fay that all men, in a Chriftian land, have not fome particular awakening influences of the Holy Spirit at one time or another. What I aim at is to oppofe the affertions before mentioned, and to fay fomething in fupport of the doctrine of the extraordinary operations of the Spirit in forming the hearts of men to true religion; and in producing all the real holiness there is in any of the fons of men. And here it may be premised, that the moral depravity of every man, evinces the abfolute need of fuchly operations, and proves that if ever Our Saviour once, in a holy reGod faves a fingle foul, he muft joicing, faid, I thank thee, O Fathexert fome extraordinary power of er, Lord of Heaven and earth, his Spirit. The renovation of the that thou hast bid these things from foul to the love of that holiness the wife and prudent and haft rewhich it naturally hates, in all its vealed them unto babes. When the exercises, is indeed a new creation, things of the Spirit of God are and can be accomplished only by hid from any, it seems to be abthat power which raised up Jefus furd to fuppofe that they have the Chrift from the dead. And it is Spirit of God. And the Apoftle obfervable, that all the circumftan-intimates the fame thing when he ces attending the beginning, prog-fays, The natural man receiveth not refs, and permanent effects of the late Revival, teftify to the fame purpose.

In fupport of my defign, let me

call the attention of the reader to the nature of the fin against the Holy Ghoft, which fhall never be forgiven. As all fins that are against God are against the Holy Spirit as he is one perfon in the facred Trinity, and yet all fuch fins may be forgiven; it must follow that the fin here fpoken of is against the Holy Spirit in his diftinct office or operations. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to convince of fin,

the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them because they are spiritually difcerned. If they are ever received, it is not through the powers of the natural man, but through the uncommon operation of the Spirit on the heart. But our Saviour exprefsly declares, that fome wife and prudent men have not thefe operations, for these things are hidden from them, they difcern not the things of the Spirit of God, and hence it is certain that they have not the Spirit.

Chriftians as born of the spirits of God's pouring out his fpirit; of his giving the holy Spirit to them that ask him; and of his giving a spirit of grace and fupplication, which leads any to look on him they have pierced and mourn: if any do not

In the fixth chapter of John, it | appears, that the Jews, who were ready to believe that Jefus was an extraordinary perfon, were not withstanding deftitute of the peculiar teachings of the Spirit. For not only many things which he preached unto them in righteous-look on him and mourn, they have

nefs, were confidered as bard fayings, but he exprefsly declares verfe 63d, that it is the Spirit that quickeneth Had they the Spirit that quickeneth, they never would have thought that the words which were Spirit and were life were hard fayings. Therefore they had not the Spirit.

not the fpirit. St. Paul fays walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfil the lufts of the flesh. Those therefore who fulfil the lufts of the flesh, have not the fpirit. He fays alfo Rom. viii. 1, 2. that those who are freed from condemnation, walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and the law of the Spirit of life in Chrift Jefus has made them free from the law of fin and death. Where this Spirit is, there is true religion. If all men then have this Spirit, all men are truly religious; but this is difficult to believe.

men are naturally dead in trefpaffes and fins, and many remain fo to the end of life. We read alfo of the

In the first chapter of John we are told, that the Lord Jefus came to his own and his own received him not, but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believed on his name; Which We read of being led by the Spirwere born, not of blood, nor of the it; that the Spirit witnesses with will of the flesh, nor of the will of our Spirits, that we are the chil man but of God. His own did not dren of God; that thro' the Spirin general receive him, all that did it we mortify the deeds of the body, receive him were born of God.—and that the Spirit is life, and yet How they were born of God is told us in a difcourfe with Nicodemus, in which Jefus declares that except a man be born again, of wa-earneft of the Spirit given of God ter and of the Spirit he cannot fee to Chriftians, that thro' this they the kingdom of God. Baptifm it- look not at the things which are tem felf, if baptifm is meant by being poral but at those which are eterborn of water, does not fuperfede nal: This however is not the the neceffity of being born of the cafe of all men. Spirit. Confequently, even bap- The Apostle tells us, of fandi, tized perfons, though furrounded|fication of the Spirit, of the gof with the prefence of God fo as to pel's coming to believers in demonbe able to fay with the Pfalmift, firation of the Spirit, and in fuch whither fhall I go from thy Spirit, a manner as that others may no yet may be deftitute of it, in its tice it; for the manifeftation of the peculiar operations towards a holy Spirit is given to every man to proflife, and in need of being born it withal. This last text has been again by it. Here then we find frequently quoted in proof that evconclufive teftimony that all men ery man has the Spirit. But if have not the Spirit. the word manifeftation be not omitted, it will no more prove that all men have the Spirit, than my hold

The fame thing is confirmed by all thofe paffages which fpeak of

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