considered, in a Lecture delivered Sept. 2, 1823, in the Theological Seminary, Andover. By Leonard Woods, D. D. Abbot Professor of Christian Theology. Good principles of interpretation are making progress at Andover. According to Dr. Woods, 'The phrase iva rλnpwon, that it might be fulfilled, and other phrases of a like kind, are indeed used, and very properly, to introduce a real prediction which is accomplished; but not for this purpose only. They are often used, and with equal propriety, to denote a mere comparison of similar events; to signify that the thing spoken of answers to the words of a prophet, or that his words may justly be applied to it; and so may relate to what was said by an inspired writer in describing a character which formerly appeared, or in relating an event which formerly took place, as well as to a real prediction. Accordingly, we might take a passage, where it is said, such a thing was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, or that what was spoken by the prophet was fulfilled; and might, in many instances, express the same thing by such phrases as these; the declaration of the prophet had an accomplishment in what took place; or his words may be aptly applied to it; or they very properly express it; or his observation is true in reference to the present case; or this thing is like what the prophet describes.' In illustration of this doctrine Dr. W, refers to Matthew ii. 15, 17, 18; xv. 7, 8, 9, and the frequent New Testament allusions to Isaiah vi. 9, 10. If a second edition of this Tract should be called for, materials for improving it may be found in Professor Everett's Defence of Christianity, chap. vi. The Moral Dignity of the Missionary Enterprise. A Sermon delivered before the Boston Baptist Foreign Mission Society, on the Evening of October 26, and before the Salem Bible Translation Society, on the Evening of Nov. 4, 1823, by F. Wayland, Jr. Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Boston. Though Mr. Wayland's reasoning does not appear to us throughout suffisiently cautious, we cordially assent to his views upon the dignity and momentous importance of the work of evangelizing the world, and upon the practicability and obligation of making progress in it at the present day. It is upon the wisdom of the means which his friends are employing, and the character of that system which they are offering to the heathen for Christianity, that we dissent from him. But such differences do not impair our admiration for the sterling eloquence of his discourse. A production of so much merit is an era in the history of the Ainerican Baptist Church. The Young Child's Prayer Book. Parts I. and II. An Address delivered at the Collegiate Institution at Amherst, DEDICATION. The new church in Greenwich was dedicated to the worship of God on the first day of January. ORDINATIONS. On Thursday, Jan. 15, Rev. Thomas Tracy, late of Harvard University, was ordained pastor of the Second Religious Society in Biddeford, Me. The sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Nichols of Portland, from Romans xiv. 16. The charge was given by Rev. Mr. Webster of Biddeford; and the right hand of fellowship, by Rev. Mr. Felton of Scarborough. The introductory prayer was offered by Rev. Dr. Parker, of Portsmouth, N. H; the ordaining prayer by Rev. Mr. Fletcher of Kennebunk, and the concluding prayer by Rev. Mr. Marrett of Standish. January 21. Rev. Joseph Searls was ordained over the church and society in Lynnfield, formerly under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr Mottey, of whom an account was given in the Christian Disciple, Vol. III. p. 412.-February 4. Rev. Benjamin F. Clarke over the Congregational church and society in Buckland.-February 4. Rev. James O. Burney, over the Congregational church and society in Seekonk.-February 18. Rev. Chester Isham over the Trinitarian Congregational church and society in Taunton. OBITUARY. In the spring of the year 1820 Captain JOHN C. BANCROFT, the son of the Rev. Dr. Bancroft of Worcester, embarked from Portsmouth, Eng. for Boston. The vessel in which he sailed has never since been heard of. The virtues of his character, and the melancholy manner in which it now seems certain he must have perished, are of so singular a kind, that the regret of his family has a claim to the attention and sympathy of the Christian publick. For fourteen years he had been engaged in navigation, and had several times performed the longest and most dangerous voyages. Indeed, he had been exposed to the worst perils by land and by sea; and throughout all his trials was never known to repine, but was borne up by the consciousness that he was doing his duty, and by the hope of making himself useful to his family. During the early part of his seafaring life he had frequently revisited his own country; but afterwards he became engaged in the commerce between Asia and Europe, and several years had elapsed, during which he had not once been at home. Finally, the time of his return seemed at hand, and he was to return to be exposed no more. A house was prepared for his reception; his friends were anticipating the moment of his arrival, and his family was cheered by the hope of seeing a dutiful son, a liberal and affectionate brother, united again to their circle. But summer came on and still the arrival of his vessel was not announced. Anxiety on his account became extreme. It was soon certain that he must at least have been interrupted in the regular passage to America Tidings were sought for from the Southern, the West-Indian, the remotest ports; and when hope still refused to be quiet, and turned from the regular mercantile news to the accounts of shipwrecks and captures, neither his name nor that of his vessel was to be seen. Now there is no longer any doubt. Three years have passed, and long ago it became certain that he and his crew must have perished at sea. But how? Whether in a moment, or by protracted suffering? Whether by tempest, or by famine?—these are questions which too often recur, and never can be answered. This event is so fraught with distress, that nothing but religion can afford consolation under the heavy dispensation. But there is a Providence in the affairs of men, and the meed of virtue will be awarded in Heaven. The thought of this is full of consolation; for the friend whose loss we deplore was of the most pure, correct, and industrious habits; as a man of business, prudent and trust-worthy; as a member of society, charitable and kind; for as he was himself acquainted with hardships he knew how to commiserate and relieve the indigent and the wretched. His religious faith was steadfast, and even in the farthest Asiatic seas he found no higher delight, no more encouraging objects of thought and study than the very doctrines which are preached in our pulpits. As a brother he always showed himself thoughtful no less than affectionate; careful to meet the wants and gratify the wishes of his brothers and sisters; an excellent counsellor and a generous benefactor. To his parents his loss is inestimable. They had looked upon him as one, who was to be the head of their family, when their years should have been numbered; and they had found their anxiety at the thought of being removed from their present sphere of action, relieved by their confidence in him. In these observations on his character, nothing has been said beyond the truth He was pious towards God, dutiful towards his parents, careful in business, frank and sincere in his affections, fond of improving in knowledge and moral worth; and what more can be said of any good man? The melancholy office of performing the last duties to him in the hour of death, his family was not permitted to fulfil. Since they do not possess his remains to bury them and raise over them a monument, let it at least be permitted publickly to cherish the recollection of his excellence, and repeat the tale of his disastrous end. Died, in this city February 5, 1824, Mrs. ELIZABETH W. WARE, Æt. 31, wife of the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr. and daughter of Benjamin Waterhouse, M. D. There were many qualities in the character of the late Mrs. Ware which gave her a claim to peculiar interest and respect while living, and render her premature death the subject of uncommon regret. To strong natural sense, and more than ordinary powers of mind, she united great energy, firmness, decision, and dignity of character. Her feeble health for many years before the sickness which terminated her life, rendered the sphere of her exertions and influence smaller than her disposition would have made it; but even under the pressure of constant indisposition, there are few possessed of the full enjoyment of health, who were capable of so much and of such well directed exertion. Her life was terminated by a pulmonary consumption, of which the distinct commencement might be dated more than two years before its termination; and during the whole of this long sickness, she suffered far more from bodily distress and pain, than usually falls to the lot of the victims of that disease. With how much cheerful fortitude and Christian resignation she endured all this, can only be known by those who witnessed her days and nights of protracted suffering; who saw her, till within the last few months of her life, perform almost all the duties of a wife and mother, with as much assiduity and fidelity as she had when comparatively in a state of health, and this too with a perfect assurance from the very beginning, of what must be the event of her disease; and who knew with what calmness and composure she awaited the slow but certain approaches of the last great change. In all the relations of life her example is invaluable, and her loss irreparable; and those who have suffered from this bereavement, can have no consolation but in the recollection of her virtues, and in the hopes which, as Christians, that recollection affords them. TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS. N. H. On the Obscurities of St. Paul's Writings is received. The unexpected length of our remarks on Dr. Beecher's Sermon, has made it necessary to omit some articles of intelligence, besides Reviews of A Catechism in Verse, and of Worcester's Sketches of the Earth, which were prepared for this Number. Correspondents are particularly requested to forward their communications at least six weeks before the time of publication of the number in which they are intended to appear. NOTES UPON THE BIBLE.-No. II. WHAT reason has the Christian to believe, that the sacred volume, which he receives as the rule of faith and guide of life, has come down to him in a pure and uncorrupted state? By what means was it preserved, with what care has it been transmitted down, and what assurance can he feel, that it has not in a course of so many centuries undergone such changes in the text, as no longer to present the same system of revealed truth, as it did to those, who first read its pages? These are questions that occur to every reflecting man, and they admit of an answer satisfactory to the reasonable inquirer. It will require but few observations, I think, to remove all apprehension of the text of the New Testament having been corrupted, either by accident or design, in the first ages; and it will be equally easy to show, that it was not corrupted at a later period; and that it exists now, to all essential purposes, in its original purity. In a book, which relates to no subject of great and general interest, which was therefore read by but few persons, and not frequently copied, an errour introduced into an early copy might pass so long unperceived, as to render its detection difficult, and perhaps at length impossible. But the case with our sacred writings is extremely different from this. By * every Christian they were regarded as of unspeakable importance. They were sought for and read by all with the deepest interest. Copies of course were soon multiplied. They were in the possession of all the churches. They were read with eagerness, not only by individuals in private, but in publick on the Lord's Day, constituting a regular part of the service of the religious assemblies. And this publick and private use of them, and consequent demand for copies, was not limited to a narrow region, and a few places. It extended, from the very first, to a vast number of places, in countries far distant from each other. By this multiplication of copies, indeed, the chances were increased for single errours in copying; but, at the same time, the means of correcting any such errours were increased in equal proportion; for the opportunities of comparing copies were increased, and thus the opportunity for correcting mistakes. Now, under such circumstances, to vitiate the text only in a single point by introducing a false reading designedly, and transferring it to all the copies, was a task too arduous to be attempted, or thought of. great was the number of those, who were intimately acquainted with the sacred books, and, being educated in the knowledge of them, and hearing them constantly read, were qualified to perceive any alteration they should undergo, that there was scarcely a possibility that a false reading of any importance should escape unnoticed, and get established as a part of the text. So Besides this, the New Testament was at an early period translated into as many languages, as were spoken by the converts to Christianity. What an additional task is here imposed upon the corrupter of the sacred text!-He has not a few copies only, and in one language, to alter. That he may accomplish his design to any purpose, he must have access to hundreds of copies, in different languages, and in distant countries; a labour which no individual or body of men could be supposed to undertake without some very strong and obvious motive. Who then are the persons, that are to be suspected of having engaged with such active zeal in the laborious task of altering the Christian Scriptures, and what strong inducement to do it has exposed them to the suspicion? Not Christians themselves, most certainly. They must feel a powerful in |