upon thee. Oh, may the little remnant of my days be spent in the presence of my God; and when I am constrained to converse with creatures, let me ever remember that I have infinitely more to do with my Creator, and thus shorten my talk and traffic with them, that I may have leisure to converse the longer with thee. Let me see thee in every thing; let me read thy name every where; sounds, shapes, colors, motions, and all visi ble things, let them all teach me an invisible God.

ACCESS TO GOD.

HOWEVER early in the morning you seek the gate of access, you find it already open; and however deep the midnight mo ment when you find yourself in the sudden arms of death, the winged prayer can bring an instant Saviour near. And this wherever you are. It needs not that you should enter some awful shrine, or put off your shoes on some holy ground. Could a memento be reared on every spot from which an acceptable prayer has passed away, and on which a prompt answer has come down, we should find Jehovah-shammah, "the Lord hath been here," inscribed on many a cottage hearth and many a dungeon floor. We should find it not only in Jerusalem's proud temple and David's cedar galleries, but in the fisherman's cottage by the brink of Gennesarct, and in the upper chamber where Pentecost began. And whether it be the field where Isaac went to meditate, or the rocky knoll where Jacob lay down to sleep, or the brook where Israel wrestled, or the den where Daniel gazed on the hungry lions and the lions gazed on him, or the hill-sides where the Man of Sorrows prayed all night. we should still discern the prints of the ladder's feet let down from heaven-the landing-place of mercies, because the starting-point of prayer. And all this whatsoever you are. It needs no saint, no proficient in piety, no adept in eloquent language, no dignity of earthly rank. It needs but a simple Hannah, or a lisping Samuel. It needs but a blind beggar, or a loathsome lazar. It needs but a penitent publican, or a dying thief. And it needs no sharp ordeal, no costly passport, no painful expiation to bring you to the mercy-seat; or rather, I should say, it needs the costliest of all: but the blood of atonement-the Saviour's merit-the name of Jesus, priceless as they are, cost the sinner nothing. They are freely put at his disposal, and instantly and constantly he may use them. This access to God in every place, at every moment, without any price or personal merit, ís it not a privilege ?--Rev. James Hamilton.

BY REV. G. A. LINTNER, D. D.

PASTOR OF THE EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH, SCHOHARIE, N.Y.

THE DUTY OF CHRISTIANS IN REFERENCE TO LEGAL PROSECUTIONS.

"But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded."-1 Cor. 6: 6, 7.

Ir is the duty of Christians to "submit themselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake." God has appointed magistrates to rule over us in righteousness. It is his design that they should preserve the peace and order of civil society, protect the innocent, justify the righteous, and restrain evil-doers; and it is the duty of Christians to yield a ready and cheerful submission to the civil authority for these purposes. When we enter the Church of Jesus Christ, and place ourselves under the government of a spiritual kingdom, we do not cast off the obligations of obedience to the civil law. Christians should always evince a high respect for the government; they should set an example of obedience to the law of the land. There is no Christion principle or doctrine that interferes with the just claims of civil government, or that exonerates us, in any sense or in any degree, from the duty we owe to the civil magistrate.

But this is no reason why we should forsake the principles of religion, and resort to the law, in cases of difference between us and our Christian brethren, which should be settled in a relig ious manner. The Church is an institution founded on the high

est principles of justice and benevolence, in which all differences are to be settled according to those principles, as they are revealed in the gospel, and exemplified in the character of Christ and his true disciples. And no disciple of Christ can, consistently with his Christian duty, go to law with his brother, before the civil magistrate, when the church is fully competent to decide the matter-when it is a case belonging to the church, and cannot be properly judged by the magistrate, who may be an unbeliever, an unjust person, and give a wrong decision.

The apostle refers to this subject in the text, and the passages connected with it; and the instructions which he delivers are so important, and have such a direct bearing on the conduct of professing Christians in our day, that they deserve our solemn consideration: "Brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

In the further examination of this subject, we propose to consider the duty of Christians in reference to legal proseculiums. We shall endeavor to show,

1. That Christ has made it the duty of his disciples to settle all their differences among themselves, without resorting to legal prosecutions; and, 2. Exhibit some reasons why Christians should not go to law with each other.

The words of the text are addressed to Christians. Paul reproves them for what he considers a great evil in the church. "Brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers." Ho represents this as a great fault, committed openly, and in violation of every principle by which Christians should be governed in their conduct towards each other. He speaks of it as an evil which admitted of no justification under any circumstances, and deserved the censure and execration of all who felt for the honor of Christ and the interests of the church. He raises his voice, and bears testimony against this sin, because he regarded it as a deep stain on the Christian character. It had brought a reproach on religion, and a scandal into the church, and could not be tolerated without endangering the very existence of the Church, and subverting those elementary principles by which alone it could be preserved. This was the view which the apostle took of the sin, and therefore he denounces it in the strongest and most emphatic language: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law? I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you-not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before unbelievers. There is utterly a fault among you; ye do wrong." This is the language of

the apostle; language which expresses in the strongest terms. his abhorrence of the conduct of those members of the Church who prosecuted their brethren before the civil magistrate, and brought this reproach upon the Christian religion.

The Church of Christ is designed to be an association of kindred spirits, where all variance, and strife, and dissensions, and bitterness, and wrath are to be excluded; where all are to be united in sentiment and feeling, and regard and treat each other as brethren. And where there is such a spirit, such a union of hearts, there will be no disposition to create disputes and stir up contentions. But it is to be lamented that the Church, which should always exhibit her principles in the conduct of her members, is not exempt from these evils. Christ says, "It must needs be that offenses come." He knew that none of his disciples was entirely free from the remnants of sin in their hearts, and that grievances would arise in his Church. He therefore warns us against these offenses, that when they do come, we may meet them in the right spirit, and avert the disasters with which they threaten us. We are to avoid all such offenses, as tending to disunion and strife among Christian brethren. We are to guard against them, as far as may be in our power. But when they come, we are to treat them as unavoidable and almost necessary evils, connected with the imperfection and corruption of our nature, and endeavor to remove them in the most speedy and effectual manner.

He

How is this to be done? How are the differences between Christian brethren to be treated? How are they to be settled, so as to prevent the unhappy and fatal consequences which so often result from them? We answer, by Christian arbitration. If the matter in dispute cannot be settled among the parties themselves, they should be referred to the judgment and decis ion of brethren in the church. This is the law of Christ. directs: "If any brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him of his fault between him and thee alone. If he shall hear thee, then thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church." This is the rule of Christ, which his disciples are to follow in all cases of difference between them. They are first to try to settle their grievances among themselves, and if they cannot succeed in this way, which of all others is the best and most effectual, they are to make their appeal to the church, and no other tribunal. Christ speaks of no other appeal. In all this direction, which is so very minute, and was doubtless designed to cover all cases of difficulty between his disciples, Christ says not a word that can justify an appeal to the civil magistrate. He gives not the least intima

tion that Christians should ever resort to the law, in cases of difference with their brethren. On the contrary, he expressly prohibits such an appeal, and directs that such cases should be settled in the church, according to the principles and spirit of the gospel. The church is to hear, consider, and decide; and in no case is the matter to be taken out of the hands of the church and carried before the civil magistrate, to the dishonor of religion, and the disgrace and injury of the parties concerned. The same direction is given by the inspired apostle in connection with the text. He teaches, that it is the duty of Christians to abstain from all legal prosecutions, and refer their differences to the arbitration of their Christian brethren. And he does so, upon the ground that Christians are best qualified to judge between their brethren, and settle their controversies. They are the proper and competent judges in all such cases; for, says the apostle," do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" They are to sit with Christ on his throne, and by their principles and testimony, the decision in the great day of final account, when all the world shall be judged before Ged, is to be made. And if they are competent to determine matters of the highest importance, in a spiritual sense,-if they have that wisdom which is from above, and surpasses all other wisdom,-shall they not be considered competent to determine those small secular matters which divide the hearts of Christian brethren, and set them at variance? When God has in a certain sense committed to them the judgment of the angels,-when he has enabled them by a spiritual and divine influence to determine the state and condition of an order of beings so far above them,-will he not also enable them to form a correct judgment of their equals, and decide matters which concern them? And in view of this, the high and holy character which Christians should always sustain, and the exalted destiny which awaits them, he asks, "Is there not a wise man among you, that shall be able to judge between his brethren?" And to take away all pretense for refusing the judgment of their brethren, for the want of wisdom which some might allege, the apostle asserts that those even who are least esteemed in the church are capable of judging, and ought to be considered competent to decide such matters; and that in rejecting the judgment of the humblest individual among them, if he was a true Christian, they did wrong, and subjected religion to the contempt of its enemies.

This is the doctrine of the apostle,-a doctrine which he taught for all the churches. He inculcates a principle essentially connected with the interests of religion, and the usefulness and prosperity of every church. He shows that Christians are bound by their religious obligations to submit all matters of dif ference, which cannot be arranged among themselves, to the ar