Second advent library

1'cmus1~'s sscosn conune. 281This was literally the case with the Jewish church,after she came out ofthe wilderness; and every appearanceseems to betoken the like s irit in the church atthe present day. O that we could) be wise, and learn,by the example set us by the Jews, that pride and self`sufiiciencyare always before a fall!I know the objector will say, How can it be true, thatthe church is spreading her barmers over a. large portionof the world, sending her missionaries and the Bible intoevery nook and comer of' the habitable globe,conqueringand to conquer; and, at the same time, grow'more and more impure herself, beco haughty, sel¥righteous, und ungrateful, corrupt and lukewarm in herfaith and practice, xdelatrous in her worship, and cold andindifferent to her first love? This, say they, is paradoxicaLI answer, Paradoxical as it may seem, it is no lesstrue. Have I not shown that the Iews were thus paradoxical,when they entered the promised land? Donot the description Solomon hath usgiven ofthe churchin hisSongs,the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthiansand Galatians, and the history of the church in thedays of Constantine, all go to show, that when thechurch has been most prospered in her worldly standingwith the nations, with whom she may come in contact,she has the moredeeply corrupted herself?This does not argue that she ought not to spread herbanners, send her missionaries, translate and circulateBibles, educate the rising generation, establish her moralsocieties, and do all, and every work, which God in hisword has commanded; but it argues that the church isimperfect, and that, in times of prosperity, she ought toconsider,lst. Her proneness to idolatry, her liability toselfrighteousness,her excessive love for the world, thetem tations on every hand.2d'ly.She ought to consider that adversity is set overagainstthat her faith ma be tried, hermotives prosperity, sifted, ebody purified, and' the sanctuarycleansed.3d. Sheof Godougsi .to consider that the designs_______.l.-_-