2407 EXTRACTS FROM THREE LETTERS Written by the Rev. Mr. Vos, at Waveren, (a Dutch fet tlement near the Cape of Good Hope) to Profeffor BONNET, at Utrecht. THE LETTER I. Waveren, 19th June, 1794. HE 26th of April, I reached Waveren, the place of my new deftination. That part of my diftri&t, which is nearcft my refidence, and which fhowed uncommon to kens of joy on account of my arrival, is externally very religious, and civilized beyond all expectation. They are, however, a people very much to be pitied. My congregation confifts of about eight hundred members, of whom, at leaft, one half are obliged to travel, fome two, fome eight, and others fourteen days, to attend my preachs ing. In the winter time I am to the greater part of them altogether inacceflible, on account of the overflowing rivers. Some never come to the fervice, except they have children to be baptized, or when they are on their way to the Cape, to which they bring their mercantile articles for fale. Yefterday I baptized a child, whofe parents have been more than three weeks on their paffage hither; as the country, on account of the exceeding high mountains, admits no other way of travelling but by waggons and oxen. But the chief reason for which they are to be pi tied, is their utter ignorance in matters of religion. Many of them can read but very badly, though they are excellent pfalm-fingers. I have already inftituted a catechifing fchool, confifting of thirty-three unmarried people, who attend me every Wednesday. Others, who are at too great a distance, are catechized every fortnight, on the Lord's day, after the expofition of the Heidelberg catechifm. There is great want of books of inftruction for them. Hitherto I have not met with any experimental Chrif tian; but I cherish a filent hope that God, who hath hitherto made my labours in foreign countries remarkably fuccefsful, has not fent me hither to plow barren rocks; and I even hope that in two or three fome feeble marks of fpiritual life are already obfervable; but time will dif'cover the reality of it miore fully. What What I moft of all lament is, that I cannot bestow all my time for the good and inftruction of my flock; for two reafons: 1ft, their great diftance from me and each other; 2d, my economical cares, having a large family to fuperin tend. A LETTER II. Waveren, March 26, 1795. LARMING rumours of war in the Netherlands are fpread here. The defire of attending public worship is, fince my last, fo remarkably increased, that our confiftory, who are at the fame time our churchwardens, have been obliged to enlarge the church, and to build two galleries more, by leave and approbation of the governor and political council. I have vifited thrice the whole diftrict, preaching at different places, in a private house or barn. I found 164 families, and in them 1139 baptized perfons, including 540 communicants, in a district about equal in extent to the province of Utrecht. They could be vifited within the time of thirty days, were it not for the vaft mountains and numerous rivers in our way; but on account of these obftacles, a distance of an hour's walking takes up more than three hours riding, with a waggon of fix, and even eight horses. The ignorance of many is ftill very great; but I have never seen such strong and ftriking marks of attention, reverence, interest, and affection, in any of my former congregations in Holland, as I, to my great comfort, here experience. God has rooted the feed of regeneration evidently in the hearts of fome; among whom are children of twelve, eleven, and ten years. A young girl of about feventeen or eighteen years, is, after a conviction of five weeks, as it is termed, fet at liberty, and rejoices in her union with Jesus by faith. Among my flaves there is an old man, who gives evident proofs of regenerating grace in his heart. He is all affection when, in my catechifing, I fpeak of man's corruption and mifery, and God's love to finners, &c. Our Dutch maid-servant, who is advanced in life, is fo weary of the world that the longs every day for heaven, and cannot comply with that word-" He that believeth fhall not make hafte." With refpect to the war we are hitherto at reft; notwithstanding this, every thing is prepared to keep off the enemy, in cafe he fhould attempt to come, which we wish the Lord may prevent. LETTER LETTER III. Waveren, Aug. 4, 1796. Y fituation, at such a great distance from the Cape, but efpecially the changes in public affairs, would not allow me to write fooner; but now an opportunity of fending letters having been offered to me by our respectable chief, I embrace it. What a catastrophe in the affairs of the world fince I left Holland! A catastrophe which will be felt more in the Netherlands than here. This, my native country, underwent, as you'll have feen from the newspapers, the fame great change; but hitherto, by God's benevolent Providence, a change which is fcarcely felt. Every one hath continued in the peaceable poffeffion of his political and religious privileges. The citizens have got affurance that in cafe of an attack they will not be compelled to take up arms. The penfioned fervants of the Eaft-India Company are fet at liberty to engage in fuch bufiness as they like, or to enter into the fervice of the conquerors *, which many have already chofen. Our conquerors exert themfelves as much as poffible to defend this country against every invafion. The number of their troops increases daily, but we do not hear that they commit any irregularities. As at the capital there is but one Reformed Church, divine fervice is celebrated by the conquerors every. Lord's day, in the fame chapel; but at fuch hours, that the fervice of the Dutch is not at all interrupted by it, namely, from eleven till one o'clock. My congregation flourishes more and more. The number of external worfhippers is fo increased, that we have been under the neceffity of enlarging our church to a double extent, which is done by liberal collections. Many monuments of free grace have fince been erected here, among whom are many of the heathens. I was very fuccefsful in exciting the families of my church to inftruct their flaves in the points which are neceffary to their eternal happiness, or to fend them to my catechifing meeting for them. This hath produced very great and aftonishing effects, and many of my heathen pupils bear very legible characters of grace. I have compofed a fmall catechifm, confifting only of queftions, without any anfwers; the queftions being fo directed, that the proper anfwer may eafily be found from them.My brother's fon, a youth of fixteen years old, has erect* The Englisi. 3 L VOL. VI. cd ed, at the capital, a catechifing meeting for flaves, whose. number amounts to two hundred, and among whom there are many who thew evident proofs of grace. Many fuch meetings are inftituted now in other places; as in Drakenftein, where a ferious fchoolmafter hath erected one of above feventy heathen catechumens. My daughter, and the daughter of my wife's brother, whom I have adopted, aflift me in catechifing the flaves, &c. IN AN APOLOGY FOR MARY MAGDALENE. De mortuis nil nifi verum. N this Age of Apologies, it is more than probable that fome readers may be almost startled at the very title of the prefent paper. They will not, however, it is hoped, fufpect that the Evangelical Magazine fhould be the channel of conveying to the public eye an apology for any kind of vice; and far be it from the writer of this effay to attempt to foften down the deformed features of fin in any degree. Let fin always be reprefented in its own haggard forms; and let the children of men always be told, and let them bear in mind, that "whoremongers and adul terers God will judge "Be not deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, fhall inherit the kingdom of God +." An apology for Mary Magdalene may found fomewhat frange in the ears of fuch pious readers of the Bible, as may have been in the habit of forming a very unfavourable idea of her character and way of life before her converfion. It is not an encomium of her attachment to the gofpel of Christ, after the became his faithful and zealous difciple, that is now aimed at-this would be quite unneceffry, but it is a vindication of her moral character, even before her converfion, that is at prefent attempted. An infidel without a Bible, in a late publication, has ftyled Mary Magdalene, "a woman of a large acquaintance;" and has impudentiv infinuated, that, even after her profeffion of the golpel, the was ftill "upon the stroll." Writers without a Bible, when they undertake to write againft it, may fay any thing: but even the friends of revelation have been accustomed to hear Mary Magdalene's name connected with the names of the chiefeft finners; Heb. xiii. 4. † Cor. vi. 9, 19. fuch fuch as Manaffeh and Saul, before their converfion. have heard of a receptacle, humanely intended for the reformation of the unhappieft of human beings, bearing her name, as if in a Proteftant, as well as in a Popith country, fhe was confidered as the patronefs and tutelar faint of prostitutes! But where are the proofs that Mary Magdalene was ever, in any part of her life, fuch a character as the is generally fuppofed to have been? And without proofs, why is it that fuch an unfavourable idea respecting her is fo generally entertained? The writer fays, fo generally; for, let it be known, that fuch an idea is not univerfally adopted. It is rejected by those who have taken the pains of confulting the only authentic account we have of her-the Evangelical Hiftory. Tremble not, my gentle reader, if it should be faid, that nothing unfavourable to the moral character of this woman is mentioned, either directly or indirectly, in any part of her own hiftory, as recorded by either of the four Evangelifts. It is the defign of this effay to vindicate the injured character of Mary Magdalene; and the arguments fhall be derived from the only fources of information respecting her-the facred Scriptures themfelves, and the circumftances connected with her hiftory, as recorded by the Evangelifts. If there were nothing more to be faid upon the prefent subject, than that the Scriptures do not affert, either directly or indirectly, that Mary Magdalene was a woman of ill-fame, as the phrafe is generally understood, it were fufficient, one would think, to vindicate her character from the pofitive charge; and no danger of contradiction is riked, when we fay, there is not a fentence to be met with in any part of the Scriptures, which afferts any fuch a thing. We do read of "Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom went feven devils *." This has been fuppofed to be a proverbial expreffion, to fignify that he was a perfon of a very bad character, whom Jefus reclaimed, agreeable to the Jewish ftyle; but as to much is 'poken of difpoffions, in the proper fenfe of the word, by Luke, it is moft natural to fuppofe this to be referred to hese +. That the had been a demoniac, was her great affliction and unhappiness--no good can be attributed to evil fpirits, nor to the poor creature who had been poffeffed by them, on that account; but Luke viii. 2. Mark xvi. 9. † See Doddridge on Luke viii. 2, note. 3 L 3 it |