ence to Jesus Christ, and to the brethren, and to the Holy Bible. A few there are that inquire for truth, and come often to the prayer meeting on Friday evening. There are likewise two other converted Jews here, who are already members of churches. I also correspond with three other converted Jews in this kingdom. A few weeks ago, we received a very pleasing account of the conversion of a Jewish family in Holland. A father, mother and 13 children. Bless the Lord, O my soul, the Lord hath not forgotten Israel, nor shall any of his promises fail. O, earnestly pray that the Lord would make me, and all Christians more fervent in prayer, and more diligent in the use of means, and graciously crown our endeavours with success, that Israel may be saved with an everlasting salvation. Amen! I conclude, my dear brother, wishing you all the assistance necessary for your studies, and much of the life of God in your soul. Please to remember at the throne of gracé, dear brother, your affectionate brother in Christ, C. F. FREY. Drdinations. Oy the 5th inst. were ordained at Westfield (Mass.) Messrs. ROYAL PHELPS and NATHANIEL DUTTON, as Missionaries, to be employed by the Hampshire Missionary Society, in the new settlements at the westward. REV. LEVI FRISBIE. Obituary. THIS worthy servant of Christ departed this life at Ipswich, on the 25th of February, and on the 28th his remains were interred with abundant evidences of unfeigned respect and sorrow. A funeral discourse was delivered by the Rev. Asahel Huntington, in which the interesting character of the deceased was justly delineated, and with a sensibility, which well agreed with the occasion. The bereaved flock "did him honour at his death," by every decent preparation and arrangement for the funeral, and by their liberality to the mourning family. He has left a sorrowful widow, two daughters, and a son, now Tutor of Harvard College. Mr. Frisbie was born at Branford, in Connecticut, April, 1748; and at the age of 16 or 17 years, being considered as a pious youth, and of promising talents, was taken under the patronage of the Rev. Eleazer Wheelock, with a special view to the missionary service. To this he willingly devoted himself. His studies, even at school, were directed to this work partly at Lebanon, which was then the residence of his patron, and partly at Bethlehem, with Dr. Bella at my. In 1767 he entered Yale College, where he is understood to have continued more than three years. He finished his collegiate studies Dartmouth, and was there graduated in 1772. In 1775 he was ordained, and commenced his missionary career. He continued it while any thing could be done. He went to the southward, and afterwards into Canada. But the convulsed state of the continent at that period, obstructed his progress, and left him at liberty to settle where Providence should open a door. In 1775 he came to Ipswich; and on the 7th of Feb. 1776, succeeded the venerable Nathaniel Rogers, in the pastoral care of the first church and congregation in that town. Great harmony attended his settlement, and has continued, generally, ever since, much to the honour both of pastor and people. They are witnesses that he approved himself, for thirty years, an unexceptionable evangelical preacher. They will remember the many important messages he has brought them; and that seriousness of manner, accompanied with a lively conception, and an easy natural expres. sion, which rendered him entertaining as well as profitable. His prayers were not less edifying than his preach ing. He gave himself to the minis. try; went to it with prayerful dependence on divine help; read much, thought much, conversed much; so that his profiting was more and more visible. God in great mercy has, at different periods, blessed his labours; more especially between the years 1798 and 1801, when numbers were added to his communion. In the church he presided with gravity and humility. In his catechisings and visits to the sick, he was tender and affectionate. He wept with them that wept. At large, among his people, he displayed the heart of a friend. And as he was easy of access to all, so he had a facility in gaining access to all, and adapting himself even to children. His conversation, beside being instructive in religious things, conveyed much general information. He was pleasantly sociable, and he was guarded. In the moments of greatest relaxation uncommonly innocent. For tenderness to the character of others, he was remarkable. In his friendships, he was sincere and faithful; much endeared in his domestic relations; upright in all his transactions. He had a tenderness of conscience, which often made him diffident of himself, but gave confi. dence to others. The loss of his family and flock is great. The vicinity are greatly bereaved. His next neighbouring brother mourns deeply the loss of such a friend and companion. His brethren lament him. The Society for Propagating the Gospel have in him lost a worthy member. Zion at large will mourn. But to him, it is believed, that death is a blessed release; distressing affliction having attended him for six months past. Thanks to free grace through a Redeemer, "there remaineth a rest for the people of God;" a crown for the faithful ser vant. TO CORRESPONDENTS. THE Editors give their subscribers with this number, by way of Appendix, a part of a late Treatise, entitled "Thoughts on the Trinity," by the Bishop of Gloucester. The remainder will be given with the next number; and the parts may be separated and put in a pamphlet, or preserved and bound with the numbers of the Panoplist, as an appendix to the volume, at the pleasure of the purchaser. The Editors are induced to add this scarce and valuable tract to the Panoplist, gratis, for the double purpose of manifesting their gratitude to their subscribers, for their liberal patronage, and of furnishing them with light on a subject peculiarly interesting at the present time, from the pen of a distinguished scholar and divine. We carnestly invite the serious attention, both of our learned and unlearned readers to these seasonable and weighty "Thoughts." We are obliged to the Correspondent, who forwarded us an interesting sketch of the Life of Mrs. Sarah Porterfield. We wish, as he was long personally acquainted with this eminent and tried saint, that he had annexed a brief account of her death. We request him still to do it, and when it is received, the sketch shall be published, either in the Panoplist, or in a separate tract. B. T. on "the Divinity of Christ the ground of the Christian's hope," also T.'s Extracts, shewing the sentiments of Dr. Doddridge on the subject of Christ's Divinity, shall appear in our next Number. With pleasure we shall gratify the wishes of A FRIEND in republishing in the Panoplist the life of that humble and excellent Christian, Mrs. H. Hodge, late of Philadelphia. The Correspondent, who sent us the lines on the Death of Mr. Whitefield, has our thanks, and shall be gratified. On the 6th of March, 1519, Luther wrote his letter of submission to the Pope. The style is so humble, and even so abject in some instances, as to subject him to the charge of timid in consistency, and over-stretched accommodation. He would be indeed inexcusable, had his knowledge of the characters of the papacy been as extensive and impressive as it afterward was : but though he saw that the supremacy which the Pontiffs arrogated to themselves, was not founded in scripture, he still regarded with fond affection, and superstitious veneration, the authority of the decrees of councils and the canons of the church. Besides, the influence of the caresses which he had received, the solicitations of Miltitz, the remonstrances of the Elector, the fear of schism, and the hope of terminating a portentous struggle in the bosom of the church, could scarcely fail to Vol. I. No. 11. cline him to this compliance. If, after all, his conduct cannot be justified, the utmost that can be said is, that, in this instance, he has left a monument of human weakness, which should teach us the danger of listening to the blandishments of favour, or of being awed by the menaces of power. Had not Rome been more imprudent in rejecting, than Luther was in writing this submission, the Reformation, if not nipped in the bud, would, at least, have been checked in its growth, and never, perhaps, have waved with such luxuriance, or extended its salutary shade over so many regions of the earth.* But while Leo shut the door of * Si Moguntinus, a principio, cum a me admoneretur; denique, si papa, antiquam me non auditum damnaret, et bullis suis sæviret, hoc cepisset concilium, quod Carolus Miltitius cepit, et statim compescuisset Tetzelianum furorem, non evenissit res in tantum tumultum. Luth. Oper. Lat. in Præf. tom. 1. NN n in reconciliation, by refusing to sanction the labours of Miltitz, and sought the counsel of his bigoted dependants, and ghostly parasites, how to punish the insolence of the Saxon monk, several circumstances concurred to enlarge the views, to invigorate the courage, and to animate the hopes of this persecuted Reform er. The death of the Emperor Maximilian, by reducing the vicariat of Upper and Lower Saxony, under the jurisdiction of the Elector, during the interregnum, increased his power, and by the protection which it afforded Luther, induced many, who had in secret embraced his sentiments, more openly to declare themselves his friends. The character for wisdom which Frederic possessed, made them suspect that Luther deserved to be countenanced rather than opposed; and led them to court his acquaintance, as well as to examine his opinions and admire his courage. Wittemberg was crowded with visistors from the most distant provinces, who united with the inhabitants of the suburbs in giving thanks to God, that their city was become a second Sion, whence the beams of gospel truth were scattering on the nations.* He was mere circumstance of extensive or rapid propagation is in itself no proof of the truth of any doctrine, the celerity with which Luther's writings circulated through Germany, France, Italy, England, Hungary, and Poland; the eagerness with which they were perused by every order of the people long blinded by monkish legends, and long fettered by human authority; the approbation, which they received from men of understanding and virtue, and the opposite characters of those, who rejected and vilified them, could not but confirm his attachment to the cause in which he had engaged. But the circumstance, which had the most powerful effect, was the more attentive examination of the doctrine of scripture, concerning the supposed power of the Romish See, to which he was led by a publication of Eckius in defence of the Cordeliers, whose arguments in support of indulgences, Luther had silenced not only by contrary ar guments, but by threatening to expose their ignorance and licentiousness, if they persisted in defaming him. To the thirteen propositions of Eckius, Luther opposed an equal number; the last of which was the boldest and most important. Eckius maintained the divine right of the papal supremacy. Luther, on the contrary, asserted, that this supremacy had no better foundation than the decrees of the popes themselves; was opposed by scripture, by the history of eleven centuries, and by the canons of the first council of Nice. He received an addition ↑ Ibid, p. 178. al stimulus, by the consequences tions; but when the clamours of a controversy that was public of the assembly obliged him to ly agitated at Leipsic, on the lay them aside, Eckius supportsubject of Free-will. Andrew ed his side of the question with Rodenstein, surnamed Carlosta- greater eloquence and plausibilidius, from the place of his nativ- ty than his opponent.* ity, was professor of divinity at Wittemberg, and had embraced, to a certain extent, those views of divine truth, which his colleague and companion was zealously promulgating. Eckius, one of the most eminent champions of the papal cause, had espoused sentiments concerning human liberty, very different from those maintained by Carlostadt, and proposed that they should have a public disputation on the subject. They met, accordingly, at Leipsic on the 27th of June, and immediately proceeded to the trial of their metaphysical and scholastic skill, The subject in dispute was the power of the human will in the work of conversion. Their manners and character were as opposite as their doctrines. The one was haughty, vehement, impatient of contradiction; the other was modest, calm, patient even of reproof. Eckius made the boldest assertions, and supported them by innumerable quotations, which an monly retentive memory enabled him to command; Carlostadt advanced nothing without adducing his authors, and did not admit his adversary's quotations without the most rigid examination. "Eckius," says Beausobre, "had the advantage over Carlostadt in fluency of expression, and Carlostadt over Eckius in candour and solidity." As long as he could make use of his books he convicted Eckius of rash and unwarranted asser uncom After the dispute had continued for six days, during which the superior brilliancy and acuteness of Eckius dazzled the multitude, and seems to have afforded a temporary triumph to the enemies of the Reformation; flushed with imagined victory, and ambitious of meriting the favour of Rome, by defeating her. most formidable enemy, he challenged Luther to enter the lists Conof controversy with him. trary to the advice of his best friends, who rightly suspected Eckius of the most insidious designs, Luther, after receiving a safe conduct from the Duke, readily took up the gauntlet, which Eckius had thrown down. The combat began on the 4th of July, and was maintained for ten days with uncommon ardour, and without intermission. It turned on the thirteen propositions already mentioned; the articles of purgatory, indulgences, repentance, and the power of absolution, were successively agitated; but the principal part of the dispute concerned the foundation of the supremacy of the Roman See. This last was, indeed, the point for the discussion of which Eckius had proposed this conference; hoping either to ensnare his adversary by apparent concessions, which might lead him to a more open avowal of his heretical opinions, or to force him to take refuge under sophistical evasions, which would * Beausobre, p. 184–190. |