But, lo! suddenly up starts an inflated, fidgety mutilator, and protests that the hymn which the church has sanctioned and enjoyed for a hundred years is wrong end up, wrong side out, and wrong foot foremost,' and that there is a clear call in providence for him to revise and improve it. So at it he goes; and, by the time he is done, lackaday! you may apply to it the description given by the Scotch poet of one of his heroes:

'Poor wretch! the mother that him bare,

If she had been in presence there,

In his wan cheek, and sunburnt hair,
She had not known her son.'

The fact is notorious, that, since the irruption of the hordes of hymn-mutilators into the church, congregations have, to a mournful extent, given up the singing of God's praises in his sanctuary. How can it be otherwise, when reckless pretenders are suffered to tamper with and mar the songs of Zion, until they retain scarcely the ghost of resemblance to their former beauty and perfection?

"3. Dr. Nelson regarded the conduct of the mutilator as insufferably presumptuous. Who is this that, without the shadow of claim to poetical talent, rashly presumes to tear to tatters the sublime productions of exalted genius? Shall the friends and admirers of Watts, Cowper, and Henry Kirke White look on this wantonhavoc, and be silent?

"4. He maintained, further, that it was a plain violation of the ninth commandment. He who writes a string of wretched doggerel himself, and then proclaims to the public that Watts wrote it, bears false witness against his neighbor.

"5. And, moreover, it is altogether a question whether the mutilator is not guilty in the eye of the sixth commandment. There is certainly hymn-slaughter' in the case; for the crippled hymn, or, as Nelson expressed it, the hymn that has been scalped and tomahawked,' invariably dies. Its lot is more melancholy than that of the poor man who 'went down from Jerusalem to Jericho,' and was stripped of his raiment, and wounded, and left half dead;' for the wounded hymn dies out and out. It dies in the esteem and affection of the church. It is not sung in its mutilated form in the prayer meeting, or in the social circle. It is dead, and, if remembered at all, with interest, it is as you remember a murdered friend: the interest is in the memory of what it once was, and not in the mangled remains now before you.

"Dr. Nelson would sometimes talk familiarly of scenes that he believed would take place in the next world. He believed, with Milton, that there may be more likeness between things in heaven and things on earth than is often imagined. He would sometimes entertain his friends with an account of Watts, Cowper, and Steele meeting the hymn mutilator in a future state. The scales that prevented him from seeing the beauty of their productions will then have fallen from his eyes, and he will be heartily ashamed of what he has done; and should he, when walking along the streets of the New Jerusalem, discover Dr. Watts coming towards him, how eagerly will he look round for a by-lane or alley, that he may speedily turn a corner, and escape from the eye of one on whose works he had perpetrated such outrageous mischief!"

ARMINIANISM vs. THE MILLENNIUM.

No impartial man can examine the subject carefully, without being fully convinced, that if the peculiar doctrines of Arminianism be true, there never will be a millennium; and, on the other hand, that if it be true that a millennial day is approaching, then the peculiar doctrines of Arminianism are unquestionably groundless; and when that bright day of Zion's glory arrives, all nations of the earth will look upon those peculiar sentiments for which our Arminian friends now contend so zealously, as nothing better than "wind and confusion."

"set

No Arminian can avoid seeing, that if he admits that God designs to convert the whole world at a time," (Ps. cii. 13,) he admits, broadly and fully, what Calvinists have always meant by the "purpose of God according to election;" for the most remarkable instance of God's electing love, is his determination to convert and save all nations in the millennial day.

No Arminian can avoid seeing, that if he admits that the Lord will "make bare his arm" in the latter day, and turn all families of the earth from Satan to God, then he admits the very doctrine of effectual calling, against which Arminians have so long and so violently contended.

No Arminian can avoid seeing, that if he admits

that in the latter day Zion's King will "take to him his great power," and subdue all hearts to the obedience of the gospel, then he admits the doctrine of divine sovereignty; for all acknowledge that God did not subdue the hearts of all men in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, or in any age that has yet passed.

No Arminian can avoid seeing, that if he admits there will be a long millennial day, a thousand prophetic years, in which there shall be "none to hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountain," then away goes his favorite doctrine of "falling from grace;" for the inhabitants of the earth will not only be converted at first, but they will remain converted. They will persevere in holiness till the end of life.

Thus it is evident, that when the light of the millennial morning bursts upon our world, the mists and clouds which now obscure the vision of many professing Christians will be rolled away, and divine truth will stand out with "sevenfold" brightness in the view of all nations.

The question may now arise, What will our Arminian friends do, in view of the conclusive evidence which God's promise of a millennium furnishes against their peculiar sentiments? I answer, some of them, when they look at this subject candidly, and see how absolutely inconsistent their doctrines are with the promise of God, that the whole earth shall be converted in the latter day, will doubtless renounce their errors, and embrace the truth. Of this I am persuaded,

1. All Christians love truth when it is clearly perceived by the mind; and, although there are many ways in which their minds may be prejudiced, and led

to take a perverted view of certain Scripture doctrines, yet error is not the native element of the renovated heart. And we are assured that, when all hearts are renewed, and all prejudice is put down, and all misrepresentation is done away, then all the inhabitants of the earth shall see eye to eye.

2. We see that, as the Scriptures are examined more and more, many are coming over from error to the side of truth. In the county where I live, I calculate there are now many stanch advocates for the doctrines of sovereign grace, where there was one twenty years ago. Knowledge increases, and truth advances, as the day of the Lord draws nigh.

3. All Christians admit that, in the millennium, the church will be much more enlightened than at the present time. Show any denomination that the peculiarities for which they contend will certainly be rejected by the whole church during the millennium, and at once their faith in those peculiarities is shaken. No good man is willing to make efforts for the propagation of sentiments which he clearly sees the whole church will reject as soon as God's glory fills the earth. For these reasons, I doubt not that many who have hitherto stood up for the peculiarities of Arminianism will give up the contest, and admit they had been mistaken, as soon as they perceive the absolute inconsistency of those doctrines with the promise of God that all nations shall be converted "in his time." But will all renounce these errors? Not immediately. Error will not quit the field without a violent struggle. And although I cannot attempt to point out all the arts that will be employed to prop a tottering cause, yet the principal one will be, to deny absolutely that God will