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of Christianity, and too deeply imbued with its spirit, to answer this description. Nevertheless, it is unhappily true of multitudes, and especially of those who, from their activity and zeal, acquire conspicuity and influence, and give character to this age of partyism.

We are, however, by no means to be understood as deprecating personal attachment in religion. A religion which did not make provision for the influence of personal regards, would be quite unsuited to man, who is himself a person, and who, from his very constitution and habits, requires to be thus guided. No mere principles, however acceptable and just, will ever suffice for his government and direction. His tendency to place reliance upon some select and favorite individual, is not to be repressed. From the earliest dawn of perception and reason, he has found it to be his safety and his happiness to repose upon the bosom of affection—to be led by the hand of trustful power, or to receive with ready confidence the instructions of experienced wisdom. Without this dependence upon others, and this acquiescence in the dictates of authority, no human being could be either reared or educated. Every one is trained to reverence, and schooled in submission to superiors by an inexorable necessity, arising at once from the helplessness and the ignorance of early life. Nor is any one, at maturity, released from the influence of the habits thus impressed, or from the inherent tendencies of his nature in this respect. He still leans upon others for support-he still yields submission to authority-he still learns by the experience of those around him-confides in their judgment-considers often more the person who speaks, than what is spoken -and is governed and directed, far more than is commonly imagined, by men rather than by principles.

It is in spiritual relations especially, that this striking characteristic

of human nature is most conspicuous. Here, from the very nature of the subject, he is unable to make any original discoveries, and is wholly dependent upon foreign aid. Here he must receive every thing upon trust, and yield in every thing to authority; for faith is but the confidence of hope, and the evidence of invisible things. From the depths of an unseen spiritual universe he must hear the voice of revelation; he must sit at the feet of divine wisdom; he must listen, with reverence, to the accredited ambassadors of heaven; he must believe mysteries too deep for reason to fathom, and obey an authority which he is unable or unwilling to dispute. Hence he yields himself, with an unreserved submission, to those spiritual guides, of whose powers he has become assured; and every where on earth, and in every stage of civilization, is found to entrust his dearest interests to their care, and render an implicit obedience to their requirements. Consequently, there is, among men, no influence, so extended and so powerful, as that of religious teachers; and no principle so controling as a personal, or individual regard for a favorite leader.

When we come, now, to contemplate Christianity, we find that it is, in this respect, precisely adapted to human nature. It not only makes abundant provision for the free exercise of the sentiments of respect, veneration, and love for individual character, but even rests its power to save and reform the world, upon a personal attachment to its Author. It is not a mere voice from heaven; nor does it consist in a system of abstract principles; or in a code of well digested laws, which should so commend themselves to human reason, as to secure observance. Neither is it presented to the world as an ingenious theory of spiritual life, nor as a complete and consistent formula of religious doctrine. On the contrary, it is to us the history of a person-the life ; the death; the

which saves, is, as stated by Paul, the facts of his history; and what is the great central truth of Christianity

that rock on which the church securely rests, but simply a declaration of what Jesus is? To have faith, then, is to believe in HIM to have hope, is to trust in HIM—and to have eternal life, is to know HIM, and the God He has revealed.

How different, however, is the re-
ligion which partyism presents to us!
The question here is not “What think
you of Christ ?" but what think you
you of the founder of our religious
society? of Calvin? of Wesley? of
Swedenborg?
What think you of

our doctrine? of our liturgy? of our
mode of worship?
Instead of a per-

resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It has to tell us of his conception and birth; his growth and progress; his temptation and obedience; his travels and his travelling companions; his work of wisdom and his deeds of power; his sorrows and his fortitude; his poverty and beneficence; his courage and his patience; his gentleness and benignity; his prudence and moderation ; his compassion and magnanimity; his purity and devotion of soul; his firmness and consistency of purpose; his meekness and condescension; his faithfulness and truth. It has to detail to us his resignation to the Divine will; his self-possession when, in the hour of danger, he is betrayed and forsaken; his noble demeanor before an unjust and pre-sonal attachment to Jesus, we have judiced tribunal; his silent submission extravagant admiration for some zealto contumely and reproach; his calm ous partizan. Instead of belief in and unshrinking fortitude amidst the gospel facts, we have a passion for a terrible scenes of the crucifixion; his particular set of doctrinal opinions; burial and his tomb; his resurrection for history we have substituted phiand his unfailing love; his consolations losophy; for things divine, things to his disciples, and his glorious as- human ; an erring mortal for Imcension to the throne of the universe; manuel, and earth for heaven. his promise of return, and his procla- Where is now the abandonment of mation of forgiveness. It has to state self and of the world" for the excelto us the names of places-of towns lency of the knowledge of Christ," and cities, because HE dwelt in them; that we may be "found in HIM," and of districts, because HE traversed "know the power of HIS resurrection" them; of lakes, because HE sailed and the "fellowship of HIS sufferings?" upon them, and walked upon their Where now the love of John, who waves, and stilled, by a word, their leaned upon His bosom, or stood beraging storms. It has to record the side HIS cross? Where that personal names of men, because they were HIS interest in Christ-that indissoluble companions; and to relate to us inci- and intimate communion with HIM, dents, because they reveal HIS cha- that opened the heavens to Stephen, racter and perfections. It has to that "he might see Jesus standing speak of geography, because He was on the right hand of God?" How upon earth; and of the celestial man- cold and distant is now an intercourse sions, becanse HE went to heaven. In once so dear and intimate-so social a word, Christ is to Christianity what and so personal! How weak and he must ever be to the Christian, transient now, an individual attachALL IN ALL." He is the theme un- ment, once stronger than death, and varied the beginning and the end- more enduring than the grave! How the first and the last. He is present- disparaged now, a Christian union, ed as the object of regard, admira- once dearer than life, and more pretion, and love-as the model for imi- cious than all the treasures and honors tation, the Leader, the Master, the of the world! Captain, the King. The gospel itself,

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Nothing can be more evident than

that the true genius of Christianity has been lost sight of by the greater part of its professors; and that an undue zeal, for special doctrines, has led away the minds of men from the contemplation of the character of Christ, and created an attachment to human leaders, which is due to him alone. This is the great evil of partyism, and the besetting sin of Protestantism. Men love one another no longer for Christ's sake, bnt for opinion's sake; and labor no longer in the service of Christ, but in that of a party. They have mistaken the proper object of regard, and their affections are misplaced. Their judgment is perverted, and both their profession and their practice are at fault. An entire and thorough reformation is required, not so much in forms and ordinances, as in spirit and temper; not so much in the nature of their faith, as in its object ; and less in the minute points of Christian knowledge, than in their conception of the Christian institution. It is, then, the object of the present effort at reformation, if it be properly understood, (which it is not, even by many of its professed advocates) to withdraw the religious classes from unprofitable doctrinal discussions and controversies; and from those unhappy attachments to party names and party leaders, which have been the great obstacles to Christian union and religious progress; and to induce the adoption of the simple and original gospel, as the basis of faith and union; and the reception of Christ himself into the affections, as the essential means of grace, and the only just hope of salvation. It proposes to discard and abolish the creeds and formula and every thing else that tends to perpetuate the existence, or the remembrance of the feuds, and follies of Protestantism ; and to adopt alone those divine scriptures which reveal to us Christianity as it was in the beginning, and Christ as he was, is now and ever will be-the true object of Christian love, and the true bond

of Christian union. That love which unites to Jesus, must also unite Christians to one another. If they are not thus united one to another, it is a clear evidence that they are not truly united to Christ. In the attempt, therefore, to reform religious society, it becomes the first and principal object to concentrate the attention of all upon him, and upon those simple facts, and truths, almost univerally accredited, which are the only possible grounds of intercommunion, and which lead the soul in loving Christ, to love also his people and his teachings. R. R.

COMMUNINGS IN THE SANCTUARY.-No. VI.

"I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy; and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple," Ps. v. 7.

THE subjects to which our attention is here invited, are of the most serious importance. Religion does not occupy herself with trifles, or present to our consideration the light matters of a passing hour, or of a fleeting fancy. Ah! no. Her themes are serious, and they are urged upon us with a solemn earnestness, appropriate to their character. We come not to the house of God to gaze upon a display of beauty or of finery; to listen to the voice of earthly pleasure, or dwell upon the idle vanities of the world. Far different objects meet here the eye of faith far different are the themes that here engross the soul. It is with life and with death we come to hold communion; and, amidst the solemu darkness and awful secrets of the grave, to find the light and the revelations of eternity. Surely, that which thus regards the deepest interests, must be itself important; that which thus deals alone with realities, must itself be real; that which allies itself equally to the dreary desolations of the grave-our mortal fears; and to our eternal hopes-the smiling joys of life and light and love, must claim our earnest and sincere regard. How serious should be our thoughts of life!

B

How solemn our meditations upon the mysteries of our being! How impressive our consciousness that we are raised up from the dust, to move amid "this breathing world," to wrestle with its giant forms of evil; to struggle with the ever-watchful destroyer; and to contend for life even unto death! How abiding should be the conviction, that we are inhabitants of two worlds, and partakers of two natures; associated as well with the lowest form of animal existence, as with the loftiest development of spiritual being-that there are ties which bind us both to earth and heaven; the seen and the unseen; the temporal and the eternal! How earnest should be our efforts to maintain our relations with life, and especially with that "eternal life which was with the Father" and was "manifested" to the world!

Who can contemplate unmoved, the dissolution of this mortal nature; the cessation of the life-pulse that sends the vital current through the frame; the breaking up of those conscious springs of existence which we feel within us! How solemn and how sad, those moments when we approach the last hour of life, even though our pains may be soothed by the kind hand of affection, and our hearts comforted by the tender voice of sympathy; or consoled by sweet assurances of forgiveness, and sustained by the cheering promises of Hope! How dreadful, then, must have been that death we now commemorate-the death of our Redeemer! Those who had attended him in life" stood afar off," and the sins of a world oppressed his soul with deadly anguish. By the mouth of the Prophet, he exclaims; "Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness, and I looked for some to take pity, but there were none; and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me also gall for my meat; and, in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are sundered.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones; they look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture."

The crucifixion of Christ was the greatest crime ever committed by men. He died BY sin as well as for sin. Well did he say that "the blood of all the Prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world should be required of that generation ;" for his death was the consummation of all their crimes. It is, indeed, often hard to realize that human beings could be guilty of so cruel an enormity; that they could so harm the harmless, and pursue with such cruel animosity that good and gentle One. It seems so contrary to the common occurrences of life, and to the common sympathies of humanity, which will be awakened in behalf of even the most atrocious criminal who is led along to execution, that we pause for a moment in astonishment and wonder, to inquire, How can these things be? But again, when we reflect upon the power of Satan to inspire the human heart with his own malignity; when we remember what reason he had to seek the destruction of Jesus, who had resisted all his temptations, invaded his own dominions, and dispossessed his legionary tormentors of their prey, we can comprehend the fact, and explain the enigma. And when we refer to the persecutions of the martyrs, and to the inconceivable malignity evinced against the true followers of Jesus, on his account, we see but the agency of the same mighty Power of darkness and of death. With how much bitter animosity and hatred, has he inspired even the unbeliever, who, from his own principles, should have been but an indifferent spectator of religious

controversies, and sectarian crimes. "Let us crush the wretch !" exclaims Voltaire, the prince of Infidels; and have not his followers in our day been known with dying lips to curse the name of Jesus? Here we have, so to speak, our own experience to corroborate that wondrous tale of sorrow related by the evangelists to show that it is possible for men thus to hate, with such deadly and bitter hatred, one who never harmed them, but who, on the contrary, bestowed upon them the most precious favors. Yes, they hate him now, as they hated him then, "without a cause.' They would even now "crush," or crucify him, and still vainly be called upon to answer the inquiry which Pilate propounded to his murderers, 'Why? what evil hath he done ?"

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Who can approach, without trembling, to look in upon a soul thus filled with malignity? Who can, without a shudder, gaze into that dark abyss of wickedness, into which human nature may thus be plunged? Who can duly estimate the capacities of men for crime, when the dark Spirit of Evil himself undertakes to develope them? Yet such are the scenes we are called upon to witness -such are the subjects we are here invited to consider, where Christ crucified is placed before us, and the scenes of Calvary are brought to our remembrance. From this position we may survey that cruel spectacle, and hear the mockery and shouts of the infuriate crowd. They offer to him that bitter (chole), that narcotic bitter, in sour wine, which the Romans, to add the semblance of mercy to cruelty, were wont to give the condemned before their crucifixion, to deaden their sensibility to pain; but when he tastes thereof he will not drink it. No it is the cup which the Father hath given him that he will drink. It is the punishment due to our sins that he will endure without mitigation or alleviation. Behold him in those mortal agonies, and hear

even his fellow-sufferers revile him, and see the disciples whom he had so fondly loved and so highly honored, forsake him in the hour of his calamity. But hearken to those piteous accents - that sole complaint which he can be made to utter, "My God, my God, why hast THOU forsaken me?" The mortal pangs of expiring nature he can bear without a murmur, and endure that he should be abandoned by his friends, but not that God also should forsake him. He can suffer the death of the body with unshrinking fortitude, but not that his soul should be separated from God, the source of being and blessedness. Who can depict the expression of agony which rests upon that gentle countenance, when he is thus excluded from both worlds, and left, for one dreadful moment, alone with human crimes! Upon that pure and innocent nature, how heavily presses that sinful load! Before his sacred soul appear, in horrid array, the unnumbered transgressions of the whole world, from that of Eden, the murder of Abel, the crimes of Manasseh, the blood of Zechariah, the cruelty of his own destroyers, the persecutions of his martyrs, the revolting detail of all the forms of human guilt now known, or yet to be. And are not our sins, too, there, while cruel lips mock that cry of "Let us see if agony, and say, Elijah will come to save him ;" and while cruel hands present him vinegar to drink? Surely he was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. For it pleased the Lord to bruise him — to put him to grief-to make his soul an offering for sin; and he hath laid on him the iniquities of us all.

For this " he hath trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with him." For this he is " despised and rejected of men"

for this "he is taken away by distress and judgment," and "cut off

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