THE PRAYER OF AN AFRICAN SERVANT.

To the Editor of the Panoplist.

Sir, The sentiments contained in the following lines were from the lips of an African Servant in Charleston, (S. C.) A Gentleman who accidentally overheard him at his devotions, gave them the dress in which they now appear. Noth ing essential is added to the thoughts which were uttered, and nothing taken from them.

BLEST be thy name, O God of grace,

Who teachest me to sing!
My heart and voice I'll tune to praise
My Savior and my King.

Where darkness and the shades of death,
The untutor'd nations bind;
There I first drew my native breath,
To all thy glories blind.

Nor rising day, nor setting sun,
Nor stars that gild the night;

Nor streams that through the vallies run,
Nor mountains towering height;

Nor all the wonders of thy hand,
That shew'd creative skill,
Could lead, in that benighted land,
To know, or do thy will.

No Gospel there thy grace declares,
No Savior's love is shown;
No preacher the glad tidings bears
That make thy mercy known.

Blest be the day that brought me thence
To this enlighten'd shore,
Where, loosed from bonds of ignorance,
I learn my God to adore.

Here, slavery, thy soften'd chain

And yoke I gladly wear;

Thy burdens yield no grief nor pain,
Thy toils command no tear.

For here, blest Savior, I have learn'd
Thy truth and righteousness;

Thy grace my mourning songs hath turn'd
To songs of joy and praise.

THE NEW BORN CHRISTIAN.

WHAT strange delight is this I feel,
That lifts my soul above;
Such heavenly joy, and holy zeal,
And such o'erflowing love.

THE Minutes of the General Association of Massachusetts, and the important reports accompanying them, have solicited a large share of our pages. The important bearing which these reports have on the interests of the churches concerned, will. excuse us for inserting them, and demand for them an attentive perusal.

Much original matter has been necessarily excluded.

Lines on Band H- N- - are under consideration.

An Exhortation to Christian Beneficence, has been received. Our Correspondents must wait pa tiently for a decision on their pieces.

Our readers will observe that this number of the Panoplist contains 8 pages more than usual; a future number will ntain 8 pages less.

ON THE INTERMEDIATE STATE: OR, THE CONDITION OF MEN BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION.

THE Bible is a practical book. This testimony of Jesus was written, that men might believe on him, and believing, might have life through his name. Its chief aim is, through the influence of the Spirit, to excite the faith of the elect in the Redeemer, and to nourish in them a holy life, preparatory to their admis

sion into heaven.

Respecting the intermediate state, therefore, a subject admitting much vain speculation, we need not expect to find a very full account. The Scriptures treat it only in a practical view. They give not all the information that might be gratifying to idle curiosity. Several allusions to it are incidentally made, and by these we are enabled to establish respecting it a few general conclusions; sufficiently valid and particular to Comfort the people of God.

These allusions are made chiefly respecting departed believers; one or two only occur respecting the impenitent dead. A similar fact is noticeable, also, VOL XI.

respecting the future resurrection of the body. The Scriptures oftener mention it as the privi'sge of the believer, than as an indiscriminate event to all, or as the rising up of the impenitent to condemnation; evidently aiming at establishing the faith and animating the joys of the pious.

The Scriptures authorize us to make the following conclusions respecting the intermedi

ate state.

1. The soul in this state is active: or, man continues to be, after death, an active intelligent existence. He remains in the exercise of his intellectual pow ers and moral affections. This truth is evident from the following passages of Scripture.

First: the crucified thief, Luke xxiii, 43. 'He said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.' That day, Jesus and the penitent thief both expired. The departed penitent remained still an active intelligent being, for the promise of Christ was verified. was capable of perception and enjoyment; for he knew Christ and tasted the joys of paradise.. Secondly: the wish of Paul to

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depart and be with Christ, Phil. i, 23. For to me to die is gain. I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.' That Paul refers to a state of active and intelligent existence, is unquestionable. He has reference to a state of exist ence, in which he would know Christ, and enjoy his presence; in which he would exercise his understanding and his holy affections, in a far purer manner than on earth. That he refers, also, to a state immediately succeeding his death and not to a future resurrection, is equally obvious. For were the soul inactive and insensible between death and the resurrection, it would be no gain to Paul to die. Evident ly the life and enjoyments of Paul on earth were superior to a state of insensibility and inactivity. He would, therefore, prefer to live, and to live too, till the period of the resurrection; for evidently the enjoyment which he might share in this time would be all gain compar. ed with a state of insensibility. The period between his death and resurrection, would, on such a supposition, be so much taken away from his existence. The desire of Paul to depart, therefore, could arise only from the belief that he should immediately be with Christ.' He was 'willing to be absent from the body,' entertaining the confident persuasion, that he should immediately be 'present with the Lord.'

Thirdly: Moses and Elias on the mount of transfiguration, were active and intelligent beings, Luke ix, 28, &c. They knew Christ, and spake with

him on the subject of his ap proaching decease at Jerusalem. Moses, the servant of the Lord,' full 1400 years before this event, 'died in the land of Moab and was buried in a valley, over against Bethpeor.' Elijah, full 800 years before, while walking with Elisha on the borders of Jordan, was parted from him by 'a chariot of fire and horses of fire, and went up by a whirlwind into heaven.' Probably the same change passed upon Elijah, which Paul declares will happen to all believers, 'who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord.' If so, he existed at this time, not in a disembodied state but in a glorified body. However that be, the case of Moses, who left the world in the usual manner, is a fair illustration of the state, essentially, of departed believers. We learn, then, from what took place on the holy mount, that Moses was an active intelligent being in the days of Christ. He knew Christ, and conversed with him on a most interesting subject. He spake of that death on which his own immortal hopes were founded, and the hopes of the people of God in every age. We see him then, not only capable of mental activity but engaged, as the theme of his conversation would lead us to suppose, in the most vigorous employ of his mental powers. Whether, therefore, the appearance of Moses in bodily shape were a thing supernatural to men in the intermediate state or not, thus much is fairly deduced from it, that men in that state are active intelligent beings.

Lastly: the argument that Christ uses with the Sadducees respecting resurrection,

Luke xx, 37, 38. The translation of avaσrasis and avisnut are liable to mislead the common reader, unless he attentively examines the argument These words, commonly rendered 'resurrection and rise again,' lead the mind of the English reader forward to the period of the resurrection of the body. From an attention, however, to the sentiments of the Sadducees and the argument by which Christ refutes them, any one may see, that these words are to be understood in a more extensive sense. They refer indefinitely to future existence, or revival from the dead. The Sadducees opposed not so much the sentiment that the departed soul will at some future period re-join the body, as the idea that the soul exists at all after death. Their opinion was that there is no future life, nor angel, nor finite spiritual existence, whatever, separate from the body, Acts xxiii, 8. Their sentiment then plainly would be refuted, if Christ could prove that men continue their intelligent and spiritual existence af ter death. The point at which Christ chiefly aims in his argument with them, is, to prove that the soul does continue its existence after death. For proof, he cites the fact, that God styled himself, in the days of Moscs, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now,' says Christ, 'that the dead are raised,' that is, that they are revived up in another state of existence, 'even Moses shewed at the bush, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead but of the Kving: for all live unto him.

The reasoning of Christ is obvious. These venerable patriarchs, in the time of Moses, had been dead full 200 years, and were all buried in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, in the land of Canaan.' Yet when Moses stood beside the burning bush in Midian, God said; 'I am'-not I was once, but I am now 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; this is my name forever, and this is my memorial throughout all generations.' I am the God of your fathers the patriarchs; the Master in whose service, though now absent from the bods, they are alive and active. I am not the God and King of subjects who are dead and inactive, but of liv ing beings. All live unto me. Such was the conclusive reasoning of Christ. The Sadducees were confounded by it, and 'after that durst not ask him any ques tion at all.'

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, therefore, were alive in a parate state, and active in the service of God in the days of Moses. And from this fact it is evident that all mankind after death exist in a separate state.. Christ evidently considered this one fact as establishing the universal proposition. He alleged it expressly to prove the general truth, that 'the dead are raised up'-or revived. It was a confutation, too, of the general position of Sadduceism, that the souls of men do not exist in a separate state. We may see, too, the evident propriety of the conclusion being general. For the laws of divine administration being the same toward all men in the present state, it is rational

to conclude, that under the government of an immutable God, they will be the same, likewise, toward all after death.

The Scriptures then authorize the conclusion that men in the intermediate state are active intelligent beings.

2. Entrance into this state is immediate.

No sooner does the soul quit its earthly tabernacle, than it enters an active intelligence into the intermediate state. There is no intervening season of inactivity. The transition is immediate.

This is probable from the nature of the soul. Its very essence is activity. Conscious ness and perception removed, we have no idea of a soul left. When the body is dissolved by death, it ceases to be the residence of the soul and the seat of its operations. The soul is then separate in its existence; and if it be not a conscious, active, intelligent agent, we can form no conception, whatever, of its existence We cannot conceive that it is even possible for it to

exist.

It is evident, also, from Scripture. The thief entered paradise that day. Christ passed immediately into that state. Stephen, too, immediately entered that state. Shortly before his death, being full of the Holy Ghost' and looking up 'steadfast ly into heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. While the vision was but just fading from his view, he expired, breathing the petition; 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' he not immediately received in to that glory, the sight of which

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cheered his last moments on earth? Doubtless his prayer was answered; and if so, his soul no sooner left the body than it was received by Christ:-not an unconscious, inactive, insensible existence, but intelligent, active, and happy in the presence of his glory.

3. Impenitent sinners in this state continue sinful and are completely miserable.

But one or two direct hints on this subject occur in the Scriptures. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus describes, essentially, the different states of the saint and sinner immediately after death and, consequently, in the intermediate state. From this description we conclude, that the impenitent in that state are the subjects of misery that knows no remedy nor alleviation. Peter describes the men, which sometime were disobedi ent, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noe,' as being at present 'spirits in prison;' an expression conveying the idea of punishment and suffering.

Indirect evidence on this subject, however, is abundant. The Scriptures abundantly teach that the present life is the only season for a change in the moral character of men, and that the present is the only season of forbearance to sinners; from these two premises we conclude, that they who die impenitent still continue so, and being beyond the reach of mercy, become perfectly miserable.

4. Beuevers in this state are perfectly holy and happy.

The Catechism of the Westminster Assembly, on the subject of the benefits that believers re