that the celebration of Bolivar's birth-day occupies the principal part of one of them, and that the poet maintains a conspicuous place with his column-long cde. "There is no longer any doubt as to Santander's fate. His connexion with the late conspiracy, seems to have been proved to the satisfaction of the court before which he was arraigned, and he must, of course, suffer the consequences. "We have seen a letter, received by the Medina, from a very respectable source, dated Bogota, October 28, which says, that General Santander has been condemned to be executed, and that the president has passed the sentence over to his cabinet for their sanction. This will probably excite a sensation in this country adverse to Bolivar, unless the evidence is made known on which he was convicted: for Santander has, for the past year or two, been a favourite with many in the United States. If it is consistent with the public safety, we hope that Bolivar will generously grant him his pardon, and set him at liberty-it would add an imperishable gem to his character." MEXICO. The treaty of amity and commerce, negotiated by Mr. Poinsett, between this republick and the United States, has not, that we can learn, been ratified as yet, by the proper authorities of the former-It was said to be still hanging in suspense before the Senate of the Mexican government. The Mexicans, from their neighbourhood to the United States, are far more jealous of our citizens, and the measures of our government, than any of the other republicks in the Southern part of our Conti. nent. To conciliate them, and yet to preserve our own rights unimpaired, is certainly our best policy; but how to reconcile the two parts of this policy, is a pretty difficult problem. UNITED STATES.-Congress met, and in both houses a quorum appeared, on the day to which the adjournment of the previous session had been made. The President's message was, in our judgment, one of the best we have ever read-clear, dignified, comprehensive, exhibiting the prosperous state of our country, not only in its finances but in its other various interests, in a manner fitted to cheer the heart of every real friend to his country-and recognising, in a manner calculated to gratify every Christian, the obligations we are under to the good providence of God, and the demand which it makes of gratitude, on our part, for the distinguished favours of Heaven. We are glad to learn, by every report we have heard from Washington, that the president contemplates his retirement from office with no apparent regret. We pray that he may go to that retirement under the divine benediction; that it may be peaceful and happy; that it may be spent in still rendering to his country such counsel and services as befit an able statesman in private life; and in those devout exercises which may be happily preparatory to a state of felicity and honour in a future life, in comparison with which, all the possessions and honours of the present fleeting scene, are but dust and shadows. With equal sincerity and earnestness, we pray that the president elect may come into office under the smiles, protection, guidance, and blessing, of Him who ruleth over all; that all the predictions of his enemies may be falsified, and all the anticipations of his friends be realized and exceeded; that he may deserve and possess the confidence and approbation of all parties, in a great republick of enlightened freemen; that his administration may be blessed to promote extensively all the interests of the country, which his heroic valour has so eminently contributed to defend and honour; and that he may at last receive from the Judge of all, the plaudit, in view of which all human applause is emptiness and vanity-" well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord"-Such are the real feelings and prayers of a Christian Advocate, in reference to one that is, and one who, if life be spared, will shortly be, the chief magistrate of a Christian community, enjoying, in an unparalleled degree, the favours of the God of providence and grace. We are glad to find that the members of Congress, of the opposing parties, seem to have laid aside their former asperities, and to have greeted each other as friends and co-patriots-May such a spirit be truly felt and long continued-The details of congressional proceedings, it would be useless for us to recite. There is, perhaps, not a reader in our country, who takes an interest in political concerns, that does not read a newspaper; and congressional proceedings are favourite articles in all newspapers. We must, however, express an earnest hope, that the petitions may be successful which are going to Congress with numerous signatures, from those whose wishes best deserve regard, that the Sabbath may no longer be desecrated by a national act, in permitting the mail to be carried, and the post offices to be opened, on that holy day; and that the nation may no longer be disgraced by the permission of a traffick in slaves, in the district for which the Congress of the Union immediately legislates-May the year on which we have just entered be distinguished by national righteousness and individual virtue and piety, that, not in empty compliment, but in substantial verity, it may be a happy new year to every American citizen. THE CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. FEBRUARY, 1829. Keligious Communicationg. LECTURES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM OF THE WESTMINSTER AS face of the ten commandments, which we have already considered, SEMBLY OF DIVINES-ADDRESSED strongly indicates the positive du TO YOUTH. LECTURE XXXVIII. "The first commandment is Thou shalt have no other gods before me." The first commandment requireth us to know, and acknowledge God, to be the only true God, and our God; and to worship and glorify him accordingly." It may be observed, that all the commandments are delivered in the form of prohibitions, except the fourth and fifth, which would scarcely allow of a negative expression. The reason of this no doubt is, that prohibitions admit of no exceptions; they oblige, as I have heretofore shown, always and at all times. It is in this form, moreover, that a summary, which the decalogue was intended to be, can most intelligibly and completely be given. Prohibitions, especially when the subjects of them are highly important, always imply an obligation to perform certain duties, which are their opposites and in like manner, positive precepts always imply the forbidding of those things which would be a neglect or violation of the duties required. But in addition to these implications, the preVOL. VII.-Ch. Adv. ties of supreme love and gratitude to our Creator and Redeemer, and that to worship him, and to obey him in all that he requires in his revealed will, is, in the highest degree, obligatory on all his rational and moral creatures-Hence the propriety of considering, as the framers of our catechism have done, what is required, and what is forbidden, in each commandment. In the first commandment, moreover, a special consideration of the highest importance is included; and to the four commandments which immediately follow the first, reasons are subjoined by the supreme Law Giver; all of which have justly received the special notice of the authors of this excellent summary of Christian duty. In duties themselves there is an order, which it is of much importance to observe. There is scarcely a greater or more mischievous error, than one which has found advocates, even among some who profess a regard to revealed truth; namely, that the principal service which God requires of us, and which of course we need to be much concerned about, is the performance of social duties-the duties of justice and benevolence to our fellow men. Now, that social duties constitute G an indispensable part of all true religion, we both admit and inculcate. But we maintain that the duties first in rank and importance, are those which we owe immediately to God, our Creator and Redeemer; that as he is infinitely the greatest and best of all beings, if reverence, love, service and worship, be due to Him at all, our obligations to these must of necessity be higher and more sacred than any other. We also insist, and we appeal to all experience and observation to confirm the position, that our social duties themselves, not only derive their highest sanction from the command and authority of God, but are never so carefully and extensively performed, as by those who preserve on their minds a constant sense of the presence of the Deity, and of their responsibility to him-which is to be effected only by a holy intercourse maintained with Him, in the acts of his immediate worship. These observations, although in substance made in a former part of these lectures, are introduced at this time, because they receive the most powerful confirmation by the order in which the precepts of the moral law have been delivered to us by God himself. The first four commands of the decalogue, you will observe, relate to the duty which we owe directly to Him; thus laying the most solid foundation for the six which follow, in relation to the duties which we owe to each other. We may even proceed a step farther, and remark that the first command forms, as it were, a basis to all the rest:* this com Ridgley's remark on the location of the first commandment is exceedingly pertinent and just. He says-"It is fitly placed before all the other commandments, because it is, from the nature of the thing, necessary to our performing the duties which are required in them. The object of worship must first be known, before we can apply ourselves, in a right manner, to perform any duty prescribed, whether respecting God or man." mand teaches us the exclusive and absolute supremacy of Jehovah as our God and Redeemer, and the righteous claim which he has to our highest love and unreserved obedience; and these lie at the foundation of the whole law; so that without a cordial reception of these truths, we shall never render a careful or an acceptable obedience to any subsequent precept. Let us now proceed to consider in detail the requisitions of the first commandment, as specified in our catechism-These may be considered under three particulars, the first of which is, "To know and acknowledge God to be the only true God." Belief in the existence and perfections of God, is the foundation of all religion. Some notion of a Supreme Being, as heretofore more particularly shown,* is either a dictate of nature, or has been a matter of such universal tradition, that it has been found among the most savage and barbarous people. The possibility, and even the facility, of discovering the existence of God by the light of nature, seems to be distinctly asserted by the apostle, when he says (Rom. i. 20)," The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." But this, notwithstanding, a knowledge of "the true God," as the apostle in the same place distinctly shows, In order to preserve the connexion of those principles and facts that must always be conjoined in reasoning, the author has thought it right to repeat, with a little variation in the language, some things which are stated and enlarged upon, in some of the first lectures of his course. It was thought better to do this, than to be constantly making references, which, if made, many would not regard, and thus would lose the force of the reasoning. Let this be considered as an apology, made once for all, for the repetitions which may hereafter appear. was nearly banished from the earth. The most learned and polished nations, in the ancient world, were so far from preserving this knowledge, that they multiplied their false gods to an unparalleled degree. The polytheism of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans, was more gross and multifarious than that of any other people. It was to preserve in the earth the knowledge and worship of the true God, that Abraham was called away from his idolatrous kindred, and that the nation that descended from him was made a peculiar people-the depositaries of the oracles and institutions of Jehovah. The first precept of the moral law, which we now consider, was intended SPECIALLY to guard them against the sin of forsaking the true God, for the worship of idols; and yet, with every guard that could be placed around them, they were incessantly lapsing into idolatry, till they were effectually cured of this propensity by their seventy years captivity in Babylon. That Jehovah is the "only God," or God alone, is the great fundamental truth of revelation. The unity of God is indeed a part of what is called natural religion: because reason teaches the infinity of the Supreme Being, and one supreme and independent Being does not admit of any more. The multiplication of deities, however, where the light of revelation has not prevented it, has been universal-In India, at the present day, they reckon many thousand objects of worship, among the native heathen. Nor is a belief in the unity of the Godhead always accompanied with a just apprehension of the divine character; or, in other words, a knowledge of the true God. Not only have the Mohammedans, who make the unity of God an essential article of their creed, very erroneous and unworthy conceptions of his nature and attributes, but the same is true of deists, who live under the full light of divine revelation. Nay, unsanctified men in general, have no adequate perceptions of the true God. They do not contemplate him in his "whole round of attributes complete"-They do not, especially, view him as perfect in his moral purity, and as inflexibly just --a holy, sin hating, and sin punishing God. Hence they often vainly think that they love him, and that he also regards them with approbation. The Psalmist, speaking of the wicked, says "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them [that is, thy sins] in order before thee." My dear youth, you ought to be sensible, that false and inadequate ideas of God are a principal cause why unrenewed men are at ease in their sins. If they suitably apprehended him to be what he is, "a consuming fire" to the wicked, they could not be at peace with themselves, without being reconciled to him and making him their friend. We have a declaration of some of the chief attributes of the true God, made by himself, and made, it should be remembered, at the time he inscribed the precepts we are considering on two tables of stone, with his own finger. It is said (Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7,)" And the Lord passed by before him [Moses] and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." It appears to have been the design of Jehovah, in these memorable words, to proclaim his moral attributes only; the occasion particularly requiring this, when his covenant people, after their shameful fall into idolatry, were again to be received into his favour. A summary expression of all the attributes of the true God, so far as made known to us in his works and in his word, is given in an answer to the question in our catechism, "What is God?" The answer, you recollect, is-" God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth." To what was said in the lectures in which this compre hensive answer was discussed, I must refer you, for a more enlarged and particular view of the character of the true God. We must not however pass from the particular now under consideration, without remarking-and it is with deep concern that I make the remark that if the one true God has revealed himself to us, as we most firmly believe he has, as existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, then those who reject this truth, do not know and cannot worship the true God-The being they worship is not the Jehovah revealed in the Holy Scriptures. They do not come to the Father in the only way of access, through the Mediation of the Son, and by the sought and sacred influences of the Holy Spirit. "I am the way and the truth and the life," said the Saviour, "no man cometh unto the Father but by me-He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father who hath sent him" -Throngh him, [Jesus Christ] saith the apostle, "we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access, by one Spirit, unto the Father." Nor must the point we here consider be left without reminding you distinctly, that the knowledge and acknowledgment of the only true God must be practical, as well as speculative, if we would derive from it the saving benefit which it was intended to convey. It is possible to "hold the truth in unrighteousness." A speculative knowledge of God, however correct, if it consist in barren inefficient notionsnay, even an acknowledgment of him, if it be only carelessly or formally made, will not save or profit our souls: it will only serve, if persisted in, to aggravate our condemnation. The knowledge and acknowledgment of God, in order to be beneficial and saving, must be practical. We must have such a lively apprehension of his relation to us, as is accompanied with an habitual conformity to his will in heart and life; and we must own, avouch, and confess him, as the only true God, in our secret and social worship of him, and by an open profession of our attachment and devotion to him, before the world-"With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." The second particular mentioned in the answer before us, as a requirement of the first commandment, is, the acknowledging of the only true God as our God. This has, in a degree, been unavoidably anticipated. Yet a most important consideration remains to be noticed here; which is, that the Lord Jehovah can never be our God, in the sense of this answer, and we know and acknowledge him as such, except as he is manifested to us, and as we are reconciled to him, in and through Christ Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. The covenant of works was made with man at his creation; and while he retained his primitive rectitude and holiness, man could, without a Mediator, look to Jehovah, as his God, in the same manner as the holy angels still do-could see in his Creator a God in covenant, all whose attributes were engaged to insure his happiness. But when the covenant of works was violated on the part of man, Jehovah was no longer his God, in any sense implying friendship! The parties respectively were completely at variance. Man had become a rebel, and Jehovah was to him "a con |