HARMONY

OF THE

PRECEPTS, PRAYERS, AND PROMISES,

OF

HOLY SCRIPTURE.

SOME divines, convinced of the inability of fallen man to fulfil the divine Law, have hastily reprobated all attempts to enforce the divine precepts, as anti-evangelical: but it will appear from the following Scriptures, God does not recede from his authority to command, on the ground of human inability to obey. While we are his creatures, in any possible state of existence, we must be subject to his commands, and answerable for our disobedience. But he hath taught us to pray for his assistance, with the gracious assurance, that if we pray in earnest, we shall not pray in vain; and the proper use of the divine promises is, to urge us thus to pray, and not to lull us into indolence and false security.

In the following Scripture Triplets, it should be carefully observed, that the first text under each is a divine precept; the second, a prayer for grace to fulfil that precept; and the third, a promise encouraging us to implore that grace. Thus we see the Harmony between the divine precepts and promises, and the influence which both should have upon our prayers-namely, to urge and to encourage us in that duty.

It is but justice to observe, that the writer is indebted for this judicious selection of appropriate Scriptures to a Tract published many years ago, by the Rev. Matthew Wilks (1787).

MAKE you a new heart, and a new spirit; for why will you die?-Ezek. xviii. 31. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.-Psalm li. 20.

A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh.-Ezek. xxxvi. 26.

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump.-1 Cor. v. 7.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.-Psalm li. 7.

I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy sin.-Isaiah i. 25.

Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die?-Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Turn thou me, and I shall be turned:

for thou art the Lord my God.-Jeremiah

xxxi. 18.

There shall come out of Zion the Deli. verer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.-Rom. xi. 26.

Save yourselves from this untoward ge neration.-Acts ii. 40.

Save me, and I shall be saved; for thou art my praise.-Jer. xvii. 14.

Israel shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation.-Isaiah xlv. 17.

Wash ye, make you clean.-Isaiah i. 16. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.-Psa. li. 2.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.-Ezek. xxxvi. 25.

Cast away from you all your transgressions.-Ezek. xviii. 31.

SCRIPTURE HARMONY.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE,

SHEWING, AT ONE VIEW,

The Period in which the SACRED Writers flourished, and the most celebrated of the HEATHEN Poets, Historians, Orators, and Philosophers, contemporary with them; compiled from Dr. Enfield's History of Philosophy, Dr. A. Clarke's "Bibliographical Dictionary" and " Sacred Literature," &c. &c.

It not being possible, at this distance of time, to ascertain the births and dates of these very early writers, we have contented ourselves with marking the dates at which they wrote or flourished.

Century
B. C.

Inspired Writers.

XV.

Moses.

XII.

XI.

Heathen Writers.

There is no Pagan writer that can be traced nearly to the age of this Sacred Historian and Legislator.

Samuel the Prophet. Orpheus, Musæus, and Linus, are placed by some in

David.

Solomon.

this century, but on very doubtful authority.
Homer, the father of Greek poetry.

Hesiod, Poet. Some place him before Homer.
Lycurgus, the Spartan Legislator.
Zoroaster, Chaldean Philosopher.

Obadiah.
Ezekiel.
Ezra.
Haggai.

Zechariah.
Nehemiah.

Malachi.

Romulus, founder and first King of Rome.
Numa Pompilius, second King of Rome.

Thales, chief of the seven Sages of Greece, and founder
of the Ionic Philosophy.

Epimenides, of Crete, Philosopher and Poet.

Solon, Legislator of Athens, and one of the seven
Greek Sages.

Sappho, Greek female Poet.

Auacharsis, Scythian Philosopher.

Esop, Phrygian Philosopher, and celebrated Fabulist. Pythagorus, founder of the Pythagorean Philosophy. Heraclitus, a Pythagorean Philosopher, of atheistical principles, and of so melancholy a turn, that he was called" the weeping Philosopher."

Democritus, the laughing Philosopher, who made a jest of every thing.

Anacreon, a beautiful but licentious Greek Poet. Herodotus, of Halycarnassus, the father of history among the Greeks.

Pindar, of Thebes, the prince of lyric poets.

Cato, of Utica, Roman patriot and stoic philosopher;
but who ended his days by suicide.

Thucydides, Greek historian of the Peloponesian war.
Eschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, three celebrated
Greek tragic poets.

.

Century
B. C.

IV.

III.

II.

I.

Century
I.

After Christ, or A. D.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

Apocryphal Writers.
Jesus, the son of Si-
rach, author of
Ecclesiasticus.

John Hyrcanus, re-
puted author of
the 1st Book of

Maccabees.

Christian Writers.
The Evangelists and
Apostles.
Apostolic Fathers.
Barnabas, supposed
to be the Apostle.
Clement of Rome,
companion of St.
Paul.

Hermas, author of
"The Pastor.

Jewish Writers.

Josephus.
Philo-Judæus.

Heathen Writers.

Socrates, a celebrated moral philosopher, and pro nounced, by the Oracle, the wisest man in Greece, was iniquitously condemned, and poisoned in the first year of this century.

Plato, founder of the Platonic philosophy, and Xeno phon, celebrated general, philosopher, and historia, were both pupils of Socrates.

Aristotle, called the prince of philosophers and critics, and chief of the Peripatetics.

Demosthenes, the prince of Greek orators.

Isocrates and Eschines, two other eminent Greek

orators.

Theophrastus, disciple of Aristotle, and writer on
natural history.

Theocritus, father of the Greek pastoral poetry,
Callimachus of Cyrene, eminent Greek elegiac poet.
Manetho, ancient Egyptian historian.

Epicurus, founder of the Epicurean philosophy,
founded on the love of sensual pleasures.
Zeno, of Cyprus, founder of the stoic philosophy.
Pyrrho, founder of the sceptical philosophy, which
doubts of every thing.

Archimedes, of Syracuse, and

Euclid, of Alexandria, celebrated mathematicians. Polybius, Greek historian, and author of a universal history of his own times.

Terence, Latin dramatic poet.

Quintilian, Roman lawyer, rhetorician, and orator.
Lucretius, Roman philosopher and poet; but atheistical.
Virgil, the prince of Latin poets, author of the Eueid.
Horace, a pleasant, elegant, and witty Latin poet.
Tibullus, an elegiac Latin poet, usually published with
Catullus and Propertius.

Ovid, a popular Latin poet, of very licentious character.
Cicero, the prince of Roman orators.

Cornelius Nepos, the Latin biographer of Greek and
Roman generals.

Diodorus Siculus, of Sicily, author of a Universal
History.

Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, Latin historian and
critic, author of Roman Antiquities.

Seneca, tutor to Nero, and a celebrated moral writer.
Livy, historian, author of the celebrated Roman
History.

Plutarch, celebrated Roman historian and biographer.
Phædrus, Latin poet and fabulist.

Strabo, Greek philosopher, geographer, and historian.
Perseus, a Roman knight, Latin satirical poet.
Lucan, a celebrated Latin poet, put to death by Nero.
Lucian, Greek critic and satirist.

Pliny, the elder, lawyer and natural philosopher, and
anthor of a celebrated Natural History.