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ANNOUNCEMENTS.

A SPLENDID Steel engraving of the Hon. Roger Minott Sherman, it was intended should accompany his memoir. But after waiting a week beyond our stated day of publication, we find that the misfortune of the artist in first selecting a defective plate, will prevent his executing the work in season for this number. It will be inserted in the April number, from which, whenever the volume shall be bound, it can be transferred to its proper place at the head of the biographical sketch.

Notes from over the Sea.-We have on hand a review of the Rev. John Mitchell's new work of travels, bearing this title, and it is with reluctance we are obliged to withhold it from our readers for the present. We happen to know the author to be a finished scholar, and a careful observer of men and things; and though we can not recommend his book on the strength of a personal examination, we have no doubt it must be both instructive and entertaining.

We are also obliged to postpone the following articles:

"True Philosophy," on the basis of Prof. Tappan's Logic.

"The German Catholic Church," on the basis of Laing's Notes on the Pilgrimage to Treves.

"Congregational Tracts."

Review of "The Apostolical and Primitive Church, popular in its government, and simple in its worship; by Lyman Coleman.'

The concluding article upon the Massachusetts and South Carolina controversy, was partly in type, when at a late hour the author discovered an error of fact which he had adopted from leading writers on the opposite side of the question, making it necessary to reconstruct a portion of his argument. Being unable to do this as he wished without delaying the press, he preferred to withdraw the article from the present number.

BOOKS RECEIVED.

Elements of Moral Philosophy, on the basis of the Ten Commandments; containing a complete system of moral duties. By Leicester A. Sawyer, A. M., President of Central College, Ohio. New York; Mark H. Newman.

The Pilgrim's Progress from Earth to Heaven, in two parts. An epic poem. The first part by the Rev. George Burder, author of Village Sermons; the second part by the author of "Scripture Truths in Verse."

The Art of Elocution, exemplified in a systematic course of exercises. By Henry N. Day, Professor of Sacred Rhetoric in the Western Reserve College. New Haven; A. H. Maitby.

The Preacher and Pastor, by Fenelon, Herbert, Baxter, Campbell. Edited and accompanied with an introductory essay by Edward A. Park, Bartlett Professor in Andover Theological Seminary. Andover; Allen, Morrill & Wardwell. New York; M. H. Newman.

The Tourist in Europe; or a concise summary of the various routes, objects of interest, &c. in Great Britain, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Holland; with hints on time, expenses,

hotels, conveyances, passports, coins, &c. New York; Wiley & Putnam.

American Facts.-Notes and statistics relative to the government, resources, engagements, manufactures, commerce, religion, education, literature, fine arts, manners and customs of the United States of America. By George Palmer Putnam, member of the New York Historical Society, honorary member of the Connecticut Historical Society, honorary secretary of the American Art Union, author of an Introduction to History, &c. London and New York; Wiley & Putnam. 1845.

Letter to Sir James Graham in relation to Italian Affairs. By Mazzini. London; Wiley & Putnam.

The Extent of the Atonement in its relation to God and the universe. By Thomas W. Jenkyn, D. D., President of Coward College, London. From the third London edition. Boston; Gould, Kendall & Lincoln. 1846.

The Attractions of Heaven. Edited by H. A. Graves. Boston; Gould, Kendall & Lincoln.

Memoir of the Rev. James H. Linsley, A. M. Hartford; Robins & Smith. 1845.

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ART. I.-THE HOLY SCRIPTURES. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are given by in spiration of God, and reveal his whole counsel concerning all things necessary to his own glory, and the faith, practice, and salvation of man. Nevertheless we acknowledge that some things concerning the worship of God, and the government of the church, are to be determined by the principles of reason and expediency, according to the general rules of the written word, which are always to be observed.

ART. II.-GOD AND THE HOLY TRINITY.

There is but one only living and true God; who is a Spirit infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, power, knowledge, presence, wisdom, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; to whom all his intelligent and moral creatures are bound to render worship, service, and obedience, according to his commandments.

In the Godhead there are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, possessing distinct and equal attributes, and in some unrevealed manner so united as to constitute one God. VOL. IV.

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ART. III.-GOD'S ETERNAL PURPOSES.

God, from all'eternity, did from the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, purpose the existence of all actual beings and all actual events, and thus ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor are the free agency and accountability of man impaired.

ART. IV.-CREATION.

It pleased God, for the manifestation of his glory, to create the world and all things therein, whether visible or invisible, in the space of six days, and all very good.

After God had made all other creatures, he created man, male and female, with rational and immortal souls, endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, after his own image; gave them a perfect law, with power to obey it, and yet under a possibility of transgressing; being left to the liberty of their own will, which was subject to change.

ART. V.-PROVIDENCE.

God, the Creator of all things, doth by his providence so uphold,

direct and govern all creatures, actions and things, from the greatest even to the least, as to accomplish all his purposes which respect the actual existence of events. This providential government of God, being thus coextensive with his providential purposes, lays a foundation for resignation, gratitude, trust and joy in relation to all the events of life.

ART. VI.-GOD'S MORAL GOVERNMENT.

God the Holy Sovereign of angels and me, has given to all his accountable creatures a law, thereby expressing his will and preference respecting their moral conduct, claiming their obedience on the ground of his own absolute supremacy and rightful authority, and enforcing obedience by the solemn sanctions of eternal life and eternal death.

ART. VII.-THE FALL OF MAN; SIN, AND ITS PUNISHMENT.

The law of God, given to our first parents as a law of universal obedience, was written in their hearts, and also promulgated in the form of a particular positive precept, forbidding them to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, promising life to obedience, and threatening death to disobedience.

Our first parents being seduced by the subtilty and temptation of Satan, did freely and wilfully transgress this law, and fell under its just condemnation.

As the consequence of Adam's transgression, his descendants are not only doomed to temporal death, but are also born into this world in such a state, that as soon as they are moral agents, they freely sin by transgressing the divine law, and are by nature and without the interposition of divine grace, in respect to moral character, wholly sinful, and therefore justly exposed to the wrath of God.

Although such are the power and influence of man's physical propensities, that they war against reason and conscience, and by an invariable and certain tendency lead him freely and voluntarily to set up his own. private interest and gratification in opposition to the will and glory of God, yet the sin or guilt with which we are charged lies not in these propensities, but in that choice or disposition of the heart, which prefers this low and inferior good to the will and glory of God.

Though man, being endowed with

the powers and cities of a free

moral agent, is qualified and able to perform his whole duty, yet he so perversely and obstinately sets his heart in its supreme affections on the world, as to be utterly indisposed and opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to evil; and by motives merely, is never persuaded to repent and believe the Gospel.

All sin, being a transgression of the law of God, doth in its own nature bring guilt upon the sinner, whereby he is bound over to the wrath of God, and the curse of his law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries, temporal, spiritual, and eternal.

ART. VIII.-CHRIST THE MEDIATOR.

It pleased God in his eternal purposes to choose and ordain the Lord Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, to be the Mediator between God and man; to be a Prophet, Priest, and King; to be Head over all things to his church, and the Redeemer, Savior, and Judge of the world.

The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, when the fullness of time was come, took upon him the nature of man with all its essential properties and common infirmities, yet was without sin; and such is this union of the divine and human natures, that he is truly one person as Mediator, and is also truly God and truly man.

The work of man's redemption,

the Lord Jesus Christ did most willingly undertake, and being made under the law, did fully and perfectly obey it, submitting to manifold sufferings and to the death of the cross; was buried; on the third day arose from the dead; ascended into heaven, and there sitteth at the right hand of the Father, making intercession, and shall return to judge angels and men.

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By his sufferings and death, the Lord Jesus Christ has made atonement for the sins of the world; whereby the authority of God's law is as fully sustained, and his justice as fully displayed, as they would be by the execution of the penalty of his law on transgressors. On the ground of this atonement, the sins of men may be freely forgiven, and all men to whom the Gospel is sent are invited and required to return to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, with the assurance of pardon and eternal life if they comply, and with the threatening of endless punishment if they do not.

ART. IX.-EFFECTUAL CALLING.

God by his Spirit through the word doth renew the hearts of all

who shall be finally saved, persuading them to love and serve him in holy obedience, and thus calling them out of that state of sin and death in which they are by nature, to a state of grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; yet so that they turn to God and embrace the Savior most freely and willingly, through the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit applying divine truth and rendering it effectual.

tend upon them with diligence 'and earnestness, since to neglect them is eminently presumptuous, if not absolutely fatal.

ART. X.-ELECTION.

God from eternity has determined to renew, and sanctify, and save a part only of mankind.

This purpose of God, being formed in view of the voluntary perverseness of the human heart, which renders the interposition of divine grace necessary to turn men from sin to holiness, does not imply that the atonement of Christ is not suffi cient for the salvation of all men, nor that they, in the requisite powers of moral agency are not quali. fied and bound to comply with the terms of life, nor that God does not sincerely will their compliance and justly hold all those guilty who reject his great salvation; but it is that eternal purpose of love and grace, which furnishes the only hope that any of mankind will be delivered from the power of sin and become heirs of salvation.

ART. XI.-JUSTIFICATION.

Those whom God effectually pardoning their sins, and receiving calls he also freely justifies, thereby them into his favor, not for their own righteousness or by the deeds of the law, but through the righteousness which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

ART. XII.-ADOPTION.

taken into the number, and enAll those who are justified are joy the privileges of the sons of ceive the spirit of adoption, have God; are called his children, reboldness, are enabled to cry Abba access to the throne of grace with Father, are sealed to the day of redemption, and so made heirs of eternal life.

This divine influence in regeneration, without which there is no holiness in man, is not given to the sinner either on the ground of promise made to him, or of his own merits, but according to the sovereign will and good pleasure of God; and yet is ordinarily so associated with ART. XIII-SANCTIFICATION. the use of means by the sinner, as They who are regenerated by to furnish sufficient reasons to at- the Holy Spirit, and adopted into the

family of God, are also sanctified by the same Divine Agent through the word; and although this sanctification is imperfect in this life, and the warfare between the flesh and the spirit continues to the end, yet the dominion of sin being destroyed, the regenerate through the continued supplies of the Spirit, become more and more holy, growing in grace more or less uniformly, and perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

ART. XIV. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS.

Saints, considered as free moral agents, may fall from their steadfastness and perish, for the same reason that they may and do actually sin; and therefore there is a perfect propriety in warnings and exhortations against apostasy; and an absolute necessity on their part of the diligent use of all appointed means of grace and salvation; but considered in relation to the purposes and promises of God, the intercession of Christ, their union with him, and the abiding of his Spirit within them, it is certain that they will never be permitted so to fall away as finally to perish.

Although this doctrine like other salutary doctrines of the Gospel may be perverted to licentiousness of life through the love of sin, yet as the assurance of perpetual obedience given to the redeemed in Heaven impairs not their fidelity and devotedness in the service of God, so neither does the promise of persevering holiness to saints on earth tend to lessen their circumspection; but while it destroys all hope of salvation in allowed sin, it furnishes an animating and powerful influence to all holy obedience, and a diligent preparation for the kingdom of glory.

ART. XV.-FAITH.

Evangelical faith is a cordial, influential belief in the whole testimony of God; which leads the Christian to regard as true what

soever is revealed in the Scriptures, and in view of each particular truth to act according to its nature—yielding obedience to the commands, relying on the declarations, trembling at the threatenings, and embracing the promises of the Gospel. A principal act of saving faith respects the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of sinners, and implies an affectionate reliance on him for acceptance with God.

ART. XVI.-Repentance.

Evangelical repentance is a sincere purpose of reformation and new obedience, proceeding from just views of the evil and odious nature of sin as opposite to the will of God; wherein the true penitent, with self-abhorrence, with godly hatred of all sin, doth with true sorrow for past transgressions and intention of heart, and in the strength of divine grace, resolve to walk before God unto all well pleasing. This is that grace, without which the sinner can not become the sub

ject of the least degree of holiness; and without which, the saint depart ing from duty can not regain peace of mind nor the approbation of God.

ART. XVII-GOOD WORKS.

No works of men possess moral excellence, except such as being commanded by God, are performed from holy motives and in the spirit of love and obedience to him. Good works done in obedience to the divine commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true faith, and by them believers evince their piety and adorn their Christian profession.

Works done by unregenerate men, although in the external form of them they may be what internal piety would dictate, yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith and are not done to a right end-the glory of God-are therefore properly sinful, and can not please God. The neglect of them however is ordinarily more sinful and displeasing to him.

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