O GOD! bend thine eye on our food-deprived poor; O! tell them that they will themselves crown the pile And not for a class, which in humbleness ran, "OUR FATHER! WE ASK FROM THINE HAND DAILY -So praying, we pray that MANKIND may be fed. C. THE OBJECTS OF THE MISSION, THE DEATH, AND THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST, CONSIDERED; In which the received notions concerning Atonement, Supernatural Conversion, &c. are shown to be foreign from their design and the effects they actually produced. (Continued from Vol. XV. p. 558.) If the statements already made in this Essay are correct, the great blessing of God on obedience is a resurrection to eternal life; a complete deliverance from all the evils, both physical and moral, appertaining to this mortal state. The two successive states of mortality and immortality are the general allotment of our race; the first man is the pattern or exemplification of the race in its origin, in this state, and our Saviour is in like manner the pattern of humanity, in the first instance, duly advanced by the experience and discipline of this state, and then elevated to the full possession of the blessings of the next. We have seen that his mind and character was perfected by the moral course he pursued, and especially by the sufferings which he underwent, up to the last dying moment. We have seen that his death was total, and that in resigning life he was actuated by the fullest reliance of its renewal by the power of God specially exerted for that purpose. Thus it most distinctly appears, that the discipline of this mortal state terminating in its loss, furnishes the proper moral preparative for the renewal of life in a state of incorruption, or exemption from all the present moral and physical causes of its dissolution. The virtues and sufferings of our Lord are an example to his disciples; they shew that a due course of obedience to the laws of God, consisting in the proper use and improvement of the powers and affections with which he hath endowed us, and a meek endurance of the sufferings with which he thinks fit to exercise us in this state, even to the loss of life itself, constitute our preparation for everlasting life and happiness hereafter. They do not, however, hold forth any substitution, either for our righteousness or sufferings, inasmuch as his disciples were expressly called upon to follow him in the same course : 'Except," saith he, “ ye are ready to take up your crosses and follow me, ye cannot be 66 my disciples;" and in strict consonance with the above remarks on his conduct, he added, "He that will lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall find it ;" and in another place," He shall keep it unto life eternal.” † Yet is there much of grace or favour in his requisitions; faith, not perfect obedience, or an undeviating conformity to his example, is made the condition of his great promise of life everlasting. He enjoins a most forgiving disposition on his disciples, and he makes the exercise of this disposition the condition of the like forgiveness on the part of God toward them. Nay, it appears that there is a general intimation of favour toward the human race in his death and resurrection. His obedience unto death, and its reward, exhibit the capabilities of human nature, and its consequent destiny. Admit what the tenor of his history testifies, that he was truly a 66 son of man," and heir to our common * Matt. x. 38, 39. John, xii. 25, see v. 24, which, in its connection with the context, shews that it was by resigning his life that Jesus looked forward to the glorification of himself and that of his followers, and the spread of his religion in the Gentile world. humanity, and his conduct, both in doing and suffering, is an exemplification of the moral powers or capabilities of the human mind. Diversified as it is into almost endless varieties, by the like diversity of circumstances, its constitution, its powers, its capabilities, are originally the same. We are, according to the constant testimony of the scriptures, the descendants of one common ancestor, of one primitive pair. Under Christianity, the whole community of mankind are represented as standing on a common level, with no other distinction with regard to their capabilities for its reception, but that of their having, in different degrees," heard and learned of the Father." There was nothing in the conduct of Jesus that was not in the highest degree befitting the most excellent of human beings under the circumstances in which he was placed; and the sphere in which he acted the part in the great drama of human life which he performed, was precisely that which became the most excellent of men. It was not of a prodigious character, inimitable by ordinary men with similar advantages; had this been the case, such plain persons as the apostles, taken from the ordinary walks of life, would not have been called upon to be his leading followers; nor would his character have been held forth for the imitation of mankind at large, as it distinctly is by himself and his disciples. 66 Much as is now said about the necessity of our trusting in the righteousness of Christ, and placing no reliance on our own righteousness, nothing is more certain than that every effort was made to induce the new converts, and their successors, in the primitive times, to be imitators of Jesus. "Be ye imitators of me,' says the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as I am of Christ Jesus." Nothing is so much required under Christianity as to imbibe the spirit of Jesus, and to "tread in his steps." " * And do we not behold in the general conduct and conversation of the apostles and the Christian churches, a general and growing resemblance to their Master? Would they, indeed, have * Christ is the leader on to eternal life, whom we are to imitate and follow.-Sykes on Acts, iii. 15. been his disciples had they not been under a general engagement, accompanied with constant strenuous efforts, to become "like minded with him?" Yes, the requisition of a spirit and conduct in conformity with that of Christ himself is a distinguishing trait of Christianity; and an actual conformity with that requisition a distinguishing characteristic of Christians. Maintaining the great truths that "there is one God, and one Lord Jesus Christ," they drew upon them the marked hostility, and the cruel persecutions of the Heathen and Jewish world; but they did not meet that hostility, and those persecutions, with any similar returns; on the contrary, "speaking the truth in love," they endured their persecutions" with patience, suffering wrongfully," and thus became strongly assimilated to him whom they had chosen as their guide and conductor to everlasting life. Now, does not this clearly evince that the virtues of Jesus are no other than the virtues of elevated humanity; the whole new society of mankind formed under the influence of the Gospel, and drawn out from the ordinary ranks of human life among both Jews and Gentiles, actually attained to a similar temper and conduct with their Master. And yet, previously to their embracing the Christian faith, they were generally men of very different dispositions and conduct; even Saul himself was originally a violent persecutor of Christians; and few men could have appeared less susceptible of those meek and amiable dispositions, shewn toward all men, especially toward those who believed, of which he afterwards became so distinguished an example. It will be said, indeed, by the self-named "orthodox," that these conversions to Christianity were not the result of the influence of the gospel upon "the natural man," or the present ordinary state of human nature, but of a divine influence effecting a complete change in our nature. With those who are accustomed to the free use of their understandings upon religious subjects, it will be immediately seen that this is an erroneous way of thinking, and that there actually was a beneficial change of character and disposition effected in men possessing our common nature, by the new and glorious views which were opened by the gospel. It is true that there were miraculous gifts in many instances conferred upon the first converts, and the internal influences which these produced in aid of their mental and moral effects, seem to have been mistaken for a power acting by an irresistible impulse, in direct opposition to the natural tendencies, and by a pure effort of omnipotence transforming them into Christianity. Were this the fact, the whole apparatus of external miracles and instructions, of the life, death, and resurrection of the Saviour, would have been superseded, all would have been effected by what is termed the irresistible operations of the Spirit, without any external agencies. But that it was quite otherwise, that every use was made of the natural powers which God hath implanted in men, and of the useful attainments they had made, and were capable of making, was palpably shewn in the selection of the disciples and apostles of Jesus during his ministry. No spiritual gifts were conferred upon any persons, with the single exception of the Saviour, throughout that important period. Conviction and choice, as the pure result of his doctrine, and external miracles, operating upon their natural powers, attached his disciples to him, and gave rise to his selection of eleven of the apostles from among them. It was the same in all subsequent cases of conversions to Christianity. Unequivocal proofs were given of an actual conviction, and an open profession of the Christian faith, before miraculous gifts were granted. The whole church of Christians at Samaria, and that at Rome, and probably many others, were formed before any miraculous gifts were conferred upon them. Indeed we have no account of any such gifts having ever been imparted to the Roman church; yet the largest, and perhaps the most elaborate, of Paul's epistles, is addressed to them as a body of Christians, and they were exhorted to the practice of all its duties, in the like manner as were the Jewish people in general, by our Saviour. Christianity is a call to the proper use and improvement of the moral powers with which our Creator has endowed us, and the miraculous gifts which were granted at that period were aids occasionally afforded to forward the natural efforts of |