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the affections of heaven. His views, his hopes, his purposes, and his joys were heavenly; and nothing terrestrial seemed to remain but his earthly tabernacle, which was just ready to be laid in the grave, there to rest in hope." On the bed of death his last accents were those of prayer and adoration. While listening to the latter verses of the eighth of Romans, and seventeenth of John, which at his request were read to him, he exclaimed in the fervor of pious emotion, "O, what a glorious apostrophe!" "O, what triumphant truths!" Happy they, whether living or dying, whose heart bears the like testimony!

HAMILTON LITERARY AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY.

It affords us great pleasure, to be able to give our readers the following brief but accurate notice of this flourishing Seminary. We love our Alma Mater too well, not to dwell with delight upon the evidences of its past usefulness; and we feel most sincerely thankful at beholding the high rank to which it has risen, by steady and cautious yet rapid progress, from its feeble beginnings, fifteen years ago. No Institution of the kind, perhaps, has more eminently experienced the fostering providence of God. The happy hours there spent in the society of the beloved Wade and Kincaid, and other valued brethren, we can never forget. Never can we forget the Christian virtues, kindness and care of our excellent Instructers. May we ever, humbly, as in the sight of God, cherish a deep sense of the responsibilities which such privileges confer. We copy the article from the Christian Watchman.

[ED.

This institution, established in the year 1820, and commencing with but ten students, and two professors, has within fourteen years grown to the present size, as the largest theological seminary belonging to Protestants in the United States. Its students at the present time, are 180 in number, under the charge of eight professors, three of whom have but recently entered upon the discharge of their duties; one of them, Professor Bacon, having been President of Georgetown College, Ky.; another, Professor Eaton, having held a professorship in the same institution; and the third, Professor Taylor, having been widely known as an efficient and successful teacher in other institutions. Its graduates have been 140, and 100 others have received more or less assistance from it, in their preparation for the ministry, passing one or two years, and some a shorter period, within its walls.

It claims to be one of the most economical, as well as the largest among our theological seminaries-the expenses of a student annually, for board, room rent, and washing, as well as tuition, not exceeding $53 80. The professors have sedulously limited their own expenses, and contented themselves with stipends narrow and inadequate. To this fact, to the self-denying sacrifices of a few among its friends and original founders, and to the rigid economy observed in all its charges, it is owing, under the favor of God, that it is now possessed of a farm of 130 acres, in the town of Hamilton, Madison Co. N. Y.-three large stone edifices-two for purposes of instruction, and one used as a boarding-house

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Hamilton Literary and Theological Seminary.

and yet its whole expenses, from its institution until the period of its last semi-annual meeting of its directors, in November, has not far exceeded $100,000.

To provide for the health of the students, as also to aid them in procuring the funds requisite to defray their expenses in the seminary, they are engaged, at hours, not interfering with their studies, in manual labor. Some are employed in the workshop of the institution, others labor upon the farm, and several are occupied in quarrying stones. The results of such employment are most evident and gratifying. The general health of the seminary is improved, and instances are much rarer than they formerly were of young men, whose bodily strength has been broken down by the sudden change from habits of active exercise to those of secluded and severe study. Where a student fails to obtain the whole amount of his bills, his notes are received in payment at the end of each term. With the practice of the most rigid frugality, it has been impossible to avoid all debt. The institution found itself in arrears, last November, to the amount of $3,000 to its treasurer. It has constantly new and pressing calls for admission, and, before the year is completed, will probably number 200 students.

Although under the patronage and conduct of the Baptist denomination, the institution is not confined in the offer of its advantages to that community. Pious young men of evangelical churches, possessing, in the judgment of their respective churches, gifts for the ministry, are admissible to its privileges; and some students of other denominations are now in the Seminary.

It is, however, a Theological institution, or, in other words, does not receive young men as do our Colleges, without reference to their religious character and destination in life. The standard of education has been continually raised, with the growing funds of the institution, and the rising demands of the churches. The course includes now a full classical one, equivalent to that afforded by most of our colleges, in addition to a system of Theological Instruction, similar to that pursued in our most approved Seminaries. It should be added that 33 of the present students are beneficiaries, and that the Seminary cancels the notes of all the students who enter the missionary field.

To that field some of its first alumni were sent. Amongst the early recipients of its advantages were Wade, (lately in this country,) who gave to the Karens a written language; and the fearless and devoted Kincaid, who, with the gospel in his hand, is knocking at the imperial gates of Ava, and asking admission for Christ and his Word. These faithful missionaries owe to the Hamilton Theological Seminary all their literary and theological culture. In all, seven of its alumni have gone to the Burman empire,— seven have gone to the valley of the West,-and twenty of the present inmates of the Seminary are contemplating the field of Foreign Missions, as the scenes in which their years and strength shall be spent, and will, we trust, write the history of the Seminary upon the face of many lands now given over to heathenism.

DR. WISNER, ON THE GOSPEL COMMISSION.

The following important note on Luke xxiv. 36-48, we take from the first volume of the Comprehensive Commentary. It was written by the late Rev. Dr. Wisner; and, in addition to its intrinsic value, derives a new and mournful interest, at the present time, from the recent decease of its excellent author. The deep reflection and sound judgment it displays, and the important conclusion which it developes, give it the strongest claim upon the attention of the Christian community. ED.

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"There are three or four instances recorded, of the risen Saviour's delivering to his disciples the substance of his last great command. (Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.) If the instance recorded by Mark xvi. 14-16, is the same as that at Luke xxiv. 33-48, and John xx. 19—25, there are but three; if not, there are four. If but three, in all the instances, if but four in all the instances but one, He addresses it to his other disciples, as well as to the eleven apostles, and to all alike. The first instance is that recorded by Luke and John, (and perhaps by Mark also,) when he appeared to his assembled disciples, on the evening after his resurrection, when, Luke says, (xxiv. 33,) the eleven were gathered together, and those that were with them;' i. e. the other disciples then at Jerusalem. And, as they were listening with wonder to the account of the two who had just returned from Emmaus, 'Jesus himself stood in the midst of them.' And, as he had said to them all alike, 'Peace be unto you,' so, also, he said to all alike, 'Repentance and remission of sins must be preached in my name among all nations; and ye are my witnesses of these things.' The second instance, is that recorded by Matthew, xxviii. 16-20, and referred to by Paul, (1 Cor. xv. 6,) when, according to an appointment made before his crucifixion, (Matt. xxvi. 32, Mark xiv. 28,) and renewed after his resurrection, (Matt. xxviii. 7, Mark xvi. 7,) He met the whole company of his followers then on earth,-above five hundred brethren, doubtless, to make them some important communication, in which they, and those who should come after them, were deeply interested. And he came and spake unto them,' addressing all alike, 'All power is given unto me in heaven, and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.' The third instance, was when He led them out as far as Bethany,' and to the whole company who witnessed his ascension, which, there is reason to think, includes the greater part of the hundred and twenty disciples then at Jerusalem. (Acts i. 6-15). He said to all alike, 'Ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.'

We are not, then, from the Saviour's last great command, to derive, by inference merely, the duty of private Christians, as well as ministers, to be engaged in the work of evangelizing the world, arguing that ministers must be sent, and aided, and sup

ported in the work, by the church. That command imposes the duty on private Christians, as well as ministers; on all Christ's disciples in the same direct and impressive manner. Not that all are to go forth to the unevangelized nations, and preach and baptize; but that all, in their appropriate spheres, are to labor efficiently and constantly, making it a governing aim in all their pursuits, for the conversion of the world. The command, however, from the very nature of the duty enjoined, has a special application to ministers. And if the instance of its delivery, recorded by Mark, is distinct from that recorded by Luke and John, it was, in one instance, at least, addressed, and with peculiar emphasis, to the eleven apostles. Ministers, then, wherever stationed, should make it the grand object of their labors and efforts, that the influence of the Gospel may be extended over the earth as speedily as possible. And, in reference to the question, where they shall be stationed, how did the divinely guided apostles understand and execute their commission ? As directing the first, to evangelize thoroughly Judea, and then the next contiguous countries, and then the next, and so on, till the whole world shall be brought under the influence of the Gospel? Just the reverse. To begin, indeed, at Jerusalem; but to go forth, as speedily as possible, into every country, and kindle up, in stations scattered among all nations and tribes, the light of the world. And this commission, thus correctly interpreted, is the commission of ministers of all ages. It is not, then, as is commonly done, to be taken for granted, by those who come into the ministry, that they are to remain in their own Christian land, unless a case of duty can be made out for them to go to some unevangelized people; but it is to be granted, that they are to be employed in conveying the Gospel to some destitute people, unless a case of duty can be made out for them to remain in their own already Christian country."

THE VISION OF GOD.

Where am I now?-Before the eternal throne,
And in the immediate presence of that God,
All whose concentrated glories round me burn,
Like a consuming fire. The cerements
Of earth are gone. Mortality dissolves,
And leaves me spiritual, immortal, lone,
Before the Infinite Presence!-

The face of cherub and of seraphim
Fade in this awful brightness. Every sound
Of voice and harp is hushed, that lately rung
Around me in mid heaven, as I passed through
Their endless ranks, to be alone with God!-
Now the dread veil is passed. I am all eye,
All ear, all intellect, all consciousness;
Nor can I close the eyelids of the soul
One moment, to shut out the dazzling blaze
Of this excessive glory.—

Earth! earth! earth!

Thou never gavest me aught resembling this,
In all thy lighted fanes and lustred halls;
Nor ever glowed in all thy gorgeous suns
Light so condensed, glory that may be felt!—
I see indeed no shape, nor human form,
But my whole soul intuitive perceives
The awe-inspiring presence of my Judge.
I see no countenance, and yet I feel
As if a countenance of majesty,

Too awful for my gaze, upon me beams
Intense, where'er I turn. I see no eye,
And yet a piercing, heart-exploring eye,
An eye of dread omniscient purity,

Each glance of which goes through my very soul,
As sinks the lightning flash into the oak,
Seems to be fixed on me from every point
Of the surrounding space. O God!

feel,

In this most solemn moment, before Thee,
As if enveloped in an atmosphere,
Or plunged into an ocean of existence,
Where all but individuality,

The immortal essence of the soul itself,
Is lost.-

Unseen, yet seen! Incomprehensible,
Yet glorious One! now I conceive of thee,
Not as with mortal senses, when I heard
Of thee, but with the hearing of the ear,
For now mine eye beholds Thee, and thy hand
Engraves the deep impression on my soul,
Of thine august existence.
Round me roll,

In living glory, all thine attributes,
Swayed by the Spirit of eternal love,
Whose softest breath to ecstacies of joy
Wakes all the chords of heaven. Eternity
Is but the shadow of thy blessed life !—
There is no searching of thine understanding,
Where the ideas of all things, present, past,
Distant and future, intricate and clear,
All natural, moral, human, and divine,
Sublime and beautiful, profound and vast,
In the deep scheme of infinite Providence,
And the yet deeper mysteries of grace,
Revolve serene in holy harmony.

Blessed and only Potentate! All things,
After the counsel of thy perfect will

With infinite ease Thou workest. To create,
Adorn, uphold, direct, destroy or save,

Thou hast but to decide, and it is done!

On Thee all nature hangs. Thou sowest worlds, And suns, and systems, through the fields of space, As doth the husbandman the showering seed.

Great Ocean Fount of Life! from Thee has flowed The innumerable streams of intellect,

Being and beauty, holiness and joy;
Thyself all beauty, joy, and holiness!
Essential love! essential purity!

Guilt's stern avenger! Virtue's steadfast friend!- ·

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