INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN, AND CONFIRMATION,

131 much entreaty, ought to shew that the heart of man does not need assistance of much prayer; that it is so regular and uniform in its tendency to God; so full of right judgments and good motions, as not to need that strength and light and aid, which ariseth from often prayer. For, unless this be the state of our hearts, we shall want much prayer to awake and move ourselves, though little was necessary to excite the goodness of God. Therefore, if men would consider prayer, not only as it is an invocation to God, but also as it is an exercise of holy thoughts, as it is an endeavor to feel and be affected with the great truths of religion, they would soon see, that though God is so good as not to need much caling upon, yet that man is so weak as to need much help, and to be under a constant necessity of that assistance, and light, and improvement, which ariseth from praying much, or continually.

If God does not give to us at our first asking; if he only gives to those who are importunate; it is not because our prayers make any change in God, but because our importunity has made a change in ourselves; it has altered our hearts, and rendered us proper objects of God's gifts and graces. If, therefore, we would know how much or how long, or how often we ought to pray, we must consider how much our hearts want to be changed, and remember that the great work of prayer is to work upon ourselves: it is not to move and affect God, but it is to excite and affect our own hearts, and fill them with such tempers as God delights to reward.

INSTRUCTION OF CHILDREN, AND CONFIRMATION. From the Evangelical Lutheran Intelligencer.

We have repeatedly urged the necessity of imparting religious instruction to the rising generation, both from Sciptural and Rational grounds. Ministers and parents attached to our Lutheran Zion, are moreover under particular obligations, to attend to this matter according to the statutes of our Church. Go to any part of Europe; to France, England, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and especially to Germany, and you will find that Lutherans invariably have their children early instructed in matters of religion. Here and there in our country, we may find a minister and people, who walk unworthy their vocation as Lutherans, but, in general, the religious instruction of the rising generation is faithfully attended to.

There is however another point, which, we fear, is not sufficiently sustained. We mean Confirmation, by which rite, persons are admitted to membership, after having received special instructions upon all the leading articles of christian faith. That individuals frequently have conformed to this most wholesome method of indoctrination, and become members of the visible Church, with hearts corrupt, we admit and lament. But it is no sufficient argument against confirmation, for the best laws are evaded and the most rigid discipline resisted, that ever have been enacted and adopted by any people.

Not only our own church, but also the Moravian, P. Episcopal, and German Reformed, admit to membership by confirmation, and this should be satisfactory to all, for it cannot be a bad method, if adopted by so large a body of christians. Christians of other denominations, have different methods, and yet each is as liable to abuse as our own. We are certain, that no Presbyterian or Methodist or Baptist, &c. christians, will say, that all whom they admit into their respective societies, are really and truly converted to God. They weep as well as we do, that so much treachery exists among men.

We, of course, prefer our own method to all others, or we should renounce it at once and adopt another. This assertion we make, not because we were born of Lutheran parents, but because we do know, that special instructions are requisite, and that no person is confirmed in our church, unless he or she has a correct and systematic view of all the essential truths of the Bible, and of the manner of applying them. We make it, because we have seen many, who, but for these instructions, would very probably, have never been converted, or found much more difficulty in arriving at the haven of peace.

We do not condemn the methods of others. We doubt not, they can be effectual, but we censure those Lutherans, who are ready to find fault with their own regulations, (if there be any such,) and especially those who do not earnestly admonish their children to attend catechetical instructions and confirmation. At the age of sixteen years, we think their children should be admitted to membership. They are then ripe enough to renew their baptismal vow, unless they are ignorant, stupid, and slaves of vice, then away with them. But we would compel our children to attend the catechetical instructions under all circumstances, with the hope, that at some period God would touch their hearts and fit them to be members of the visible church, in it to be nursed and cultivated, that they may become fit candidates for the Church Triumphant.

To show the propriety of our remarks, we extract the following from the excellent and masterly "Introductory Lecture," delivered by the Rev. C. Hodge, Professor of Oriental and Biblical Literature, in the Theological Seminary at Princeton. This learned and pious professor is an English Presbyterian, who, to perfect himself as a professor, spent a considerable time in Germany, and bence, whatever falls from his lips upon this subject, merits our attention. As a good man, he admits that though he does not advocate confirmation, yet that the method of admitting members into his own church, is also deficient.

"There is another subject connected with religious education, which must not be passed over, and that is, pastoral attention to the young. I have received the impression that this is carried to a much greater extent, in some of the continental churches, than it is among ourselves. In the Lutheran church, as you probably know, it is customary that boys at the age of fourteen, and girls at fifteen, should be confirmed; that is, be called upon to assume the baptismal vows, and solemnly recognize themselves as members of the church. That there are serious evils attending this usage, is very obvious, but that much good is effected by the pastoral attention to the young, which it occasions, cannot be denied. The candidates for confirmation each year, are formed into a class or classes, to which it is the pastor's duty to devote several hours in every week, instructing them in the principles of the gospel and of their own particular church. This course of instruction continues through the year; and as every child must be confirmed, the

whole mass of the people, rich and poor, from the king's son to the children of the peasant, are regularly indoctrinated in the christian system. The degree of fidelity with which this duty is performed, depends on the character of the pastor: but it may be remarked, that even the Rationalists, in general, retain the use of Luther's catechism and other evangelical formulas, in the instruction of the young. I have witnessed few scenes more impressive than the induction of one of these little flocks of the lambs of Christ, into his sacred fold. On the day appointed for this service, they came to the church, with their pastor at their head. Their entrance was greeted with a burst of cheerful music, in which all hearts and voices joined. Arranged before the pulpit, the pastor proceeded to explain to them the situation in which they stood. Consecrated to God in baptism, they had been given to the church by their parents; but having now attained an age at which they were capable of acting for themselves; having been instructed in the doctrines and requirements of the christian religion, and in the faith and discipline of their own church; they were to decide whether they would remain in that church, receive its doctrines, and submit to its watch and care. For the satisfaction of those present, their pastor examined them on the history and doctrines of the Bible, received their profession of faith, and solemn assent to be regarded as under the guardianship of the church. They knelt before him, the name and blessing of God was invoked upon them, and they arose in a new relation to the household of faith.

"I am not, brethren, appearing here as the advocate of confirmation; for I am persuaded, that admitting children, and all children, thus to grow up into the church as a matter of course, and thus break down the distinction between the church and the world, would more than counterbalance all the good, effected by this regular course of religious instruction. I merely state these facts to call your attention to the subject, and to have the opportunity of inquiring whether sufficient pastoral attention is devoted to the young? whether something more might not be done, to secure their regular indoctrination in our faith and discipline, and to destroy the indefinite relation in which they now grow up, to the church ?”

"The purpose of God according to election."-Rom. ix, 10, 11.

In writing to the Romans, the Apostle undertakes to prove that all mankind are by nature under sin, and that there is no deliverance but through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He teaches the Jews that they are condemned by transgressing their revealed law,-and the Gentiles, that they are condemned by transgressing those moral rules which are set before them by the light of nature. Thus he would endeavor to convict them all of sin, that he might lead them to the Saviour.

But the Jews were reluctant to be placed on the same ground with other people, and of course had the greater prejudice against the gospel. They had long been favored with greater privileges than others, and firmly believed that they should be so favored to the end of the world. Thus their prejudices were opposed to a system of doctrines, which would place them upon a level with other nations. St. Paul attempted to remove this disposition by showing them that when they

were first elected to the enjoyment of those peculiar privileges, it was not for any worthiness of their own. They were descended from Jacob, and were more highly favored than the descendants of Esau, not on account of any peculiar goodness; for "while the children were yet unborn, neither having done any good or evil, (that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,) it was said the elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated." (Rom. ix, 11, &c.) This language does not refer to the eternal destiny of the two brothers, but to the distinguishing allotment of their posterity in this world. Esau, the elder brother, never served Jacob; but his posterity, the Edomites, received less temporal, and spiritual privileges than the Israelites, and were brought in subjection to them some ages afterwards. And so the election here spoken of, means only that the Almighty, of his own mere will and pleasure, chose one people to the enjoyment of greater privileges in this world than another. The language so understood, applies well to the subject on which the Apostle is speaking. As the Jews had complained of the loss of privileges, he taught them they had no reason to complain; for as the Lord gave them peculiar privileges without any regard to their goodness, so now he had a right to take them away and place all mankind upon one footing. In various respects there is a difference made among people without reference to their character. One is born rich and another poor-one to be a king, and another to be a slave-one under the clear light of the gospel, and another in the darkness of heathenism; and all before they have done either good or evil. So the sons of Jacob were favored above those of Esau, without any regard to previous qualifications. And the Lord had the same right at another time, to reject the Jews, to grant favors to the Gentiles, according to his own will. "It was his purpose according to election," beforehand, "not of works, but of him that calleth," that the Israelites should be favored with peculiar privileges till the coming of Christ, and then all should be placed upon one footing. And so long as the final judgment will be according to their improvement of the talents furnished them, none can reasonably complain of the unequal distribution of talents in this world.

Such being the scope of the Apostle's reasoning, we must put a correspondent meaning upon the testimonies which he adduces on the subject. As he is speaking to the Jews, he quotes from the Old Testament. His first quotation respecting Jacob and Esau, we have already mentioned, and have seen that it relates only to the situation of their posterity in this world. To enforce the argument, he cites a passage from Malachi, which is to be understood in the same temporal sense: I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness." He then asks, if there is any unrighteousness in this? and answers, "God forbid! For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," &c. This was spoken when Moses requested to see the divine glory. See Exod. xxxiii, 19: "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy," &c. He would show this mercy, this peculiar privilege of seeing his glory to Moses, and withhold it from others as he pleased, but without any reference to the blessings of a future world. And so our Apostle continues, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy." This is not spoken of final mercy; for in respect to that we are abundantly taught, that those "who will, may take of the water of life freely," and those who " run, may obtain the prize." In the same manner I would un

"For this purpose

derstand the words to Pharaoh in the next verse: have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee," &c. He knew that Pharaoh was wicked, probably beyond the reach of mercy, and so he raised him to power, and hardened his heart, in order to the performance of those wonders which have been admired even to this day. He did not harden his heart for the purpose of destroying his soul; that is not once hinted in the whole history. But when his soul was already destroyed by enormous sin, the Lord gave him up to hardness of heart, for the purpose of effecting some great objects in this world. As is said in a following verse, willing to show his wrath, to make his power known, he endured with much long suffering this vessel of wrath, Pharaoh, already fitted to destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. In the same manner are we to apply the language about the potter's making one vessel to honor, and another to dishonor. As St. Paul had been speaking of some people's having greater privileges than others, without regard to their worthiness, and then uses that comparison to explain his doctrine; so we must understand the comparison in the same sense. The Lord called the seed of Jacob to the enjoyment of peculiar privileges before they or their progenitor had done good or evil; so he had a right when he pleased, to confer the privileges upon some other people. As our Lord said to the Jews, The kingdom of heaven, or church privileges shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." To the same purpose the Apostle quotes from Hosea: "I will call them my people, which were not my people." And so he concludes this chapter, representing that the Jews, as a body, were rejected, and the Gentiles were favored with the means of grace.

The same train of reasoning the Apostle continues through the next two chapters, still speaking, not of election to eternal life, but of an election to the enjoyment of church privileges in this world In the 11th chapter, he comforts his Jewish brethren by assuring them that God had not cast them all away; for himself and some others of the nation were now professors of the Gospel of Christ. As there were some in the days of Ahab, who did not bow the knee to Baal, so now there was a remnant who conformed to the church under the new dispensation. This is represented under the figure of an olive tree, of which the Jews had been branches. Many of them were now broken off, because of unbelief; and Gentiles, of the wild olive, were grafted in, and with the believing Jews partook of the root and fatness of the tree. The Apostle then warns these newly engrafted people not to boast against the other branches-not to be high-minded, but to fear. If God spared not the natural branches, they must take heed lest he also should not spare them. If he cast away those who had been his elect people-broken them off for their unfaithfulness, and admitted others to their standing, then these others must faithfully improve their privileges, lest they also should be cast off. And even the Jews also, if they abide not in unbelief, shall be grafted in again. When the fulness of the Gentiles shall be grafted in, then all Israel shall be saved or restored to their religious privileges, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.

Thus, as we have seen, the Apostle begins his discourse by stating that the seed of Jacob, without regard to their qualifications, were favored with greater privileges than other people; and he closes his argument by remarking, that they are cut off from these peculiar privile