perience of ages has shewn, that the capability of man, without revelation, can never form the idea of true theism; and therefore, in fact, his creed is partially grounded upon revelation, although he pretends by it to reduce all religion back to the original standard of adoration of one First Cause alone. Let him refer to the annals of polytheism-to the clasical pages of the Greek and Roman mythology—indeed, to all records of paganism whatsoever; and will he not there find that the undirected operation of man's intellect framed religion replete with monstrous absurdities and barbarities? Where will he discover, except in the inspired pages of Holy Writ, or in authorities derived from that source, the pure and magnificent idea of immaterial essence, of intelligence diffused over the universe, over space and eternity, and divested of the grossness of personal image, or external emblem? A general survey of creation, and a knowledge of the construction of matter, certainly does afford the ground-work for the pure idea of a God, but such an one is too sublime and vast to occur to an unenlightened mind, forming its own crude notions of religion, unless suggested, and partially revealed, by Divine favour. We will grant that the ancient Greeks and Romans were sincere in the worship of their deities, and that the Peruvians of later date were sincere in their worship of the sun: but regard the vast difference existing betwixt these human theories and the revealed idea of a true God! The Peruvian religion is, indeed, far more consonant with the notions likely to be formed by the unassisted common sense of man, than are the absurdities of polytheism. The sun is the most conspicuous object in creation. He is bright and glorious, and observation shews him to be the source of heat, life, and vegetation. Little wonder therefore that the untaught savage should offer up his adoration to the brilliant orb, of whose benign influence he is daily sensible. Nevertheless, it at the same time instances how finite is the comprehension or rather imagination of man, that could not of itself, and without outward manifestation, conceive a yet greater and more glorious power than the sun-a Creator of the sun itself

-a Being omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniprescient, and yet invisible.

In short, paganism of every kind is unimpeachable evidence that man cannot, undirected, form the true system of theism. Wild enthusiasm and gloomy imaginings usurp the place of true and fervid piety, and they either invest their mind-formed deities with circumstances of blood and horror, or with attributes best suited to their individual notions of enjoyment, in the same manner as

the Romans, to give colour to their own licentiousness, gave to their gods the vices incident to humanity. In one sentence, matter cannot imagine the essence of spiritual being; nor comprehend GOD, unless so revealed by Divine goodness.

But, falling for a moment into the creed of the Socinian, let us humbly prostrate ourselves before that Great and Incomprehensible Being whose existence and power he acknowledges, and pray heartily that he will mercifully be pleased to instruct us in the right way. God never turns from the repentant sinner-is never deaf to his sincere prayer, and what will be the result? We shall rise from our knees with an enlightened spirit and a wise heart-with a firm belief in the divinity and atonement of Jesus Christ, the only Son of God-a proof, a glorious proof, of the Divine origin of the gospel; for would the Almighty—an allwise, an all-just and all-perfect Beingwould God, I say, infuse into the hearts of those who humbly seek the truth, belief in a fraud? Would JEHOVAH, by the spiritual and invisible workings of His Providence in the hearts of His creatures, lend countenance to an impostor? Surely not. And yet faith is granted to prayer-to sincere heart-meant prayer; and the absence of the former must be attributed to the neglect of the latter. Oh! let us not lose ourselves in the dangerous labyrinths of metaphysical speculation, whilst there is a broad and sure track, so holy and so pure as this!-let us not permit our souls to become a chaos of indefinite and shadowy conjecture, whilst there remains to us a method so sublime, of resolving every doubt; but let us accept meekly and with thankfulness that revelation which is the life blood of religion-which is the religion of human nature-let us embrace the gospel as the gracious boon of a merciful God to his erring and imperfect creatures; and if we do feel the consciousness of possessing a mind and talents superior to the common order of men, let us receive the gift with gratitude, and apply it to the purposes for which reason tells us it is bestowed-the temporal and eternal benefit of ourselves and fellow men. Remember we, that although the eagle flieth high, higher than others of the feathered race-there are yet limits to his bold career; and although our wisdom may be as an eagle's flight in proportion to that of some, it nevertheless cannot penetrate beyond the limits of humanity. The higher we soar, the more terrific the fall; and we become the objects of pity or of derision to those we before affected to despise. Were those intellectual powers of which we vaunt applied to practical pursuits

and worthy ends-to the advancement of science and learning, and, the general benefit of mankind-we might be raised to a proud elevation by the admiration and gratitude of our fellow-mortals, instead of being marked, as in the case of impious study and blasphemous avowals, by their censure and abhorrence.

Assuming the Divine mission as long established, and that I address myself to those willing to assent to it, I shall now proceed to set forth a few of those precepts, by which our Lord confirmed the practice of duty as enjoined by the decalogue.

The scribes and pharisees endeavoured by subtle questions to entangle the Saviour into expressions that should be contrary to the written laws, yet elicited nothing but what was confirmatory of their spiritual intent. Many of his precepts to his disciples were expository of the commandments, and whilst he divested them of supertitious outward observances, he greatly extended their moral application; as, for example "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill, shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever shall be angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment." And, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery already in his heart," Matt. v. 21, 22. and 27, 28.

Such maxims as these were given by our blessed Saviour with a regard to the frailty of humanity, which, by hovering round the borders of sin, may easily, in an unguarded moment, be caught in the snare, and drawn at once into the vortex: and also with a view to preserve pure the spiritual as well as earthly nature, that we might no more be contaminated in thought than in action.

In fact, our Saviour concentrated the whole essence of the ethical commandments into one brief apophthegm, "Love thy neighbour as thyself." His grand principle is repeatedly enforced by the Messiah and his apostles; and the whole decalogue, or at least those parts relating to the acts of men one with another, is evidently founded upon the principle. Thus the fifth is directly a commandment of love, wherein the ordinance of God seconds and gives force to the innate feelings of our nature, as regards affection towards the authors of our being. The sixth is a commandment of love, as respects the life of a fellow-creature. The seventh, as to his honour and happiness in the person of his wife. The eighth, as to

his worldly possessions. The ninth, as concerning his good name and character: and the tenth enjoins love to our fellow. men to so great an extent, as to repress even thoughts and wishes contrary to their peace, and which, if indulged, might lead us into actions unjust towards them, and destructive to the quiet of our own conscience.

To sum up all, What is the spiritual and practical duty of a Christian? The simplest and plainest that can be imagined. The first duty, to which he is attached by every tie of gratitude and love, is the worship and adoration of his God; and the second is an upright conduct towards his fellowsojourners in this state of probation, by an observance of the laws made by the Being he worships, and without which no religious offices can be sincere. The first duty is naturally productive of the second.

Without the Divine aid, all is vanity, and all our attempts are nugatory. We must therefore pray heartily to our heavenly Father to strengthen and fortify our hearts against the inroads of sin, for grace to resist temptation, and for a firm belief in Christ, for there is no herb so efficacious in relieving a bodily disorder, as are the offices of religion to impart health to the soul. Let us therefore prostrate ourselves in lowliness of spirit before the Almighty throne, and offer heartworship to the Lord. Then will he, in his excellent goodness, infuse within us a holy fervour, fitting for deeds of grace. And, as regards our duty towards God and man, have we not an unerring guide in the decalogue, in the precepts and example of the Redeemer, and in that never-failing monitor which speaks within us, equally loud in condemnation or approval.

We well know that felicity in this world cannot be enjoyed in its supreme degree, and that there are drawbacks and alloys to every pleasure; but it is absolutely indisputable that true happiness, so far as we are capable of experiencing it, consists in moral excellence; and if our imperfect nature is, even in this frail state of humanity, susceptible of such extatic enjoyment, such refined emotions, such elevation of soul, as a devotion to virtue is capable of imparting

if religion alone will cheer up the sinking spirits of the bereaved mourner, dry up tears on the furrowed cheek of affliction,-in a word, recompense us for every sublunary grief-what conception can we, of our limited comprehension, form of that promised, celestial, and perfect happiness which awaits us hereafter, as a reward for good deeds and faith; as a reward indeed for pursuing that path which is really most productive of felicity here below?

Banish, then, from your minds, dear readers, the fallacious notion that the pursuit of virtue cramps enjoyment. Far, very far from it-it increases, refines, and renders it almost complete. The pleasures of morality are not indeed of that hot and intoxicating nature which characterizes the pursuit of unholy and forbidden joys;-they produce not, like the last, a whirl and delirium of present delight, followed inevitably by remorse and consciousness of self-debasement-by stings of conscience as terrible as they are deserved; but they lull the soul into a delicious and continued calm, in which there is a million degrees more real pleasure than in the momentary gratification of bodily sensuality, and the grosser passions of our nature; higher perhaps in animal excitement for the time being, but weighed down and crushed by the internal reproach and misery which follow. Who will say that mental enjoyments are not more sterling and ennobling than those merely bodily? or who, after cool consideration, will assert that true pleasure consists in pursuits that either enfeeble the body, undermine the health, load the soul with remorse, or excite those tempestuous and evil passions of our nature which lead us on to crimes at which reflection shudders? Who will argue that the immaterial essence of the soul should become the slave of matter, or that its reflective and discriminative powers should be lost in the headlong course of animal impulse? So far therefore from the path of virtue being unpleasing, it is the only one on earth strown with delight.

The service of the Lord is so surely productive of a happy frame of mind, that I am entirely suspicious of the sincerity of those persons whom the apparently constant practice of pious offices renders gloomy and ascetic. Lip-worship they may indeed offer; outward semblance of good conduct they may assume; but harshness and austerity prove their hearts untouched by the benign influence of true religion-so widely different is its operation.

But the false notions which have in all ages gone abroad respecting Christianity are indeed wonderful. It has been held to consist in a bigoted adherence to abstract points of form and faith, and an unrelenting persecution of those who advocate different opinions under the assumed sanction of the Christian religion-the mild, the meek, the forbearing Christian religion-and, with the pretence of converting the unenlightened, have been perpetrated spoliation, tortures, and murders! Can any thing be imagined more enormous, 2D, SERIES, NO. 26. VOL. III.

more inconsistent, more self-contradictory than this preposterous violation of common reason? To introduce a religion remarkable for mildness, charity, and love in the guise of blood and terror; to compel by bodily torture, and fear of immediate death, a poor creature to assent to doctrines his heart cannot but reject when ushered to him under circumstances of such unnatural horror; to gravely tell an uninstructed savage, that he will surely be dammed if he does not instantly believe facts that he never heard of before-namely that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, and a perfectly good man, at the very time that you are committing acts of inhuman barbarity under the sanction of that holy name, which the natural sense of the man must tell him, if he believes in future rewards and punishment, you will be damned for doing; and that consequently, if such acts be the result of the faith you are labouring to instil into him, he will most probably be damned, if he does believe! or, as if the general principle is reconcileable with common sense, that conviction of reason is to be produced by the infliction of corporal pain!

How absurd too, as well as inhuman, were the persecutions which have been carried on by Christians of different sects against each other, by Christians worshipping the same God, and professing faith in the same Christ ! Can those furious and relentless bigots who exercised such helldevised torments upon the Protestants in the reign of Mary, be termed Christians ? Or can those nominal Protestants who retaliated upon the papists afterwards, be entitled to that honourable appellation? Were the stern and fanatical puritans to be classed with justice among the followers of Jesus Christ, one whit more than the gay and licentious cavaliers? Surely, to quote the words of an elegant writer, "of all the monstrous passions and opinions which have crept into the world, there is not one so wonderful, as that those who profess the common name of Christians should pursue each other with rancour and hatred for differences in their way of following the example of their Saviour."*

Nor are these the only perversions of religion. The altar of God has been desecrated by the presence of the most abandoned criminals seeking sanctuary from punishment. Indulgences for sins against Christ have been granted by one calling himself the head of Christ's church, and God's vicar upon earth! Apostolical poverty has been

imitated to an absurd extent. Self-denial has been observed to a degree injurious to physical health and mental power. Voluntary chastisement has been inflicted on the body, as if scourges and penance could absolve the errors of the man, whilst common sense inhabits that body, to tell him that the true and proper cause is sincere repentance, and abstinence from future sin. Celibacy has been enjoined and observed, until bursting nature has hurried the infatuated monk into the commission of odious crimes, from which, had not an absurd and unauthorized restriction denied him the marriage-bed, that nature would have shrunk appalled. Solitude has been endured by individuals who have passed the greater portion of their lives in caves and holes, under the false impression that they were rendering an acceptable service to the Deity, when the most cursory examination of the system of society must convince any understanding, not blinded by the grossest superstition, that man is, and was created with the intention of being a gregarious creature. Immense sums have been, and are, amassed, under religious pretences for the secular benefit of rapacious churchmen. But no more of these points, or a volume might be filled by dilating upon the abuses and misapplications of Christianity.

Religion is naturally the simplest thing in the world, and the path of duty the most obvious. That man is therefore unwise, who puzzles himself with sectarian points of doctrine, involves himself in polemical disputes, or wearies his intellectual faculties by the study of mysteries which are evident to be incalculably above human comprehension. Let our reliance be upon God, our fear that of offending Him, our hopes fixed upon eternity, and our conduct towards our fellow-men regulated by the single maxim, "Do as you would be done by." And this conduct must we persevere in steadily, unmindful of the sarcasms and hatred of the world, rendering good for evil, and awarding duty cheerfully, not through a dread of punishment merely, but with a love of good and abhorrence of evil, remembering that the service of the Lord is delight, and not constraint. If to this we add a sincere belief in the forgiveness of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, and a lively hope in a blessed hereafter, we shall pass through life with the sweet and soothing consciousness of having done well; and, when our hour cometh, we shall yield up our soul with confidence into the hands of Him who gave it. We shall then hear with awe indeed, but not with dismay and guilty horror, the last

dread trumpet-that herald of eternitywhose breath will shake worlds, and vibrate through the immensity of space. London, November, 1832.

ON THE MORAL EDUCATION OF YOUTH,

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."-Prov.

An attempt to offer a few remarks upon this subject can, of course, need no apology; it is one of so much importance, that nothing but what I will hereafter illustrate (namely, the religious education of youth) can be at all placed before it, and even with this it is intimately united.

I am tempted to consider this subject, because I have myself, in common with others, felt the effects of the defective system of conducting the moral education of youth. We must recollect that the child is father of the man; and hence, the principles which are inculcated in the mind of the child, will most probably grow as he grows, and become so fixed as to be afterwards the helm which will direct his course over the vast ocean of life. If this early education has been defective or erroneous, bitter will be the effects in after life. As his reason expands, the more will he find the want of those springs which are absent, and then will he more bitterly rue the consequences of principles which are erroneous. I have considered this subject long, and the results I will briefly set forth. If they add any thing to what is already known, I shall feel a satisfaction in the contemplation; if not, yet, if they tend to bring forward those principles which are known, but not practically observed, I shall still be satisfied.

The education of youth is the foundation on which all that is observed in after life is piled; experience either confirms what in youth has been learnt as theory, or else the scholar, having had wrong views of things inculcated in him, will now adapt his experience to the knowledge gained, and thus build up a structure of false experience, by which his whole life is not only thrown away, as it regards real knowledge for himself, but it is absolutely injurious, as he spreads the venom either by precept or example. It may, however, be possible, and doubtless it often happens, that the mind of a person wrongly educated may be of such a texture that it cannot digest error, that instead of following precepts so instilled, he will be led, when his reason expands, to explore for himself those

regions which have been shewn to him through a glass darkly." Under such circumstances, this prerogative of human nature, reason, shines forth in all the bril liancy, that, from a donation of the Almighty, might be expected.

As an illustration of this, we see the genius of a Bacon, entering on the stage of life, rending and throwing aside the Aristotelian veil which had so long hung as a mist before the eyes of men. Again, we see reason shining forth in a Newton, chasing the shades of error from that philosophy which had so long drawn in its erroneous course the wise men of the earth. We must not, however, pride ourselves too much on this faculty; it only serves to shew how weak man is, even in his mightiest attributes, when compared with what he would have been, had he not aspired to be " gods, knowing good and evil."

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When we see that only one here, and another there, stood forth, at that period, as “a burning and shining light" in the road to correct knowledge, the paucity of men of acknowledged understanding may be attributed, I believe, to a kind of monopoly of knowledge existing among those who had attained it. It was held forth to the world in such a dry and uninviting form, that the people might be excused for not partaking of the repast thus offered. Knowledge was high-priced then, and few could afford to buy it; and not being known, it was not prized. Besides, it was the custom of the times that it should be in the hands of a few, but now the pearl is laid down, and any one may pick it up; we may almost buy the wine and milk of knowledge without money and without price; and, coming from the extreme of east or west to the metropolis, find the old and simple idea, of London streets being paved with gold, almost literally verified; for if knowledge is not gold, it is power, and power will get riches, if they be needed:-but this is a digression.

This education must be commenced early though the child of six months old is not capable of receiving precepts, it imbibes a principle of action. As a creature of imitation, the actions which are passing around it do not always disappear, without impressing something on the mind, though the child be unconscious of it. If this early effect on the infant mind be denied, how is it, I would ask, that, after a child has been gratified with any thing, it eagerly pants for the same again? and if the object be placed within sight, so as to draw attention, how is it the passions are so often roused even in that infant, until it is allowed to have what

it wants? Thus, being gratified one time after another, it insensibly becomes filled with a principle of self-will, which fails not to make an imperious spirit in after life.How is it again, that we so often see children mimicking and imitating the actions of their elders, and others about them? which is undeniably true. Many little incidents, daily observed in the nursery, only prove to me, that some prompt methods of denying gratifications when improper, and of keeping evil examples out of the way, are necessary even with children of so early an age. Those commonly designated spoilt children, are rendered so by their being allowed to have their own will so often indulged, that it becomes more and more insatiate as they grow in years.

No one at this time of life is so fitted for the duties of the preceptress as the mother, could she be divested of those false notions of tenderness which arise from a kind of short-sightedness, in not preferring the future and even present welfare of the child, to the momentary gratification given, in allaying gusts of violence by presenting it with what it so passionately desires. Resolute denial from the very beginning, and not giving way after denial, is, I believe, the best and only remedy. Where this will not answer, when well tried, I think nothing will; and then the only cause of failure, in my opinion, is a temper or disposition in the child, which is natural, and not acquired; but even here the remedy will mitigate the disease it cannot cure.To children so young, of course, mildness, but mixed up with promptitude, must be used. A harsh spirit in a preceptor soon alienates the affections, while a kind manner conciliates even in infants. It is a well-known fact, that a child will cleave to a person of good disposition, and will avoid one of forbidding manner and aspect. When the affections are gone between the child and its preceptor, principles can only be inspired by terror, which is at all times an evil.

Well, then, as infants are the creatures of imitation, it is our duty to keep in their sight such actions as are worthy of being imitated; and such as are either radically wrong, or relatively so to them as children, must be carefully kept from their observation. How often is it the case, that parents quarrel, and use angry and unwarrantable language, while their children are with them, who, looking up to their parents as their patterns, thus derive wrong principles of action?

The moral education of youth must, it appears to me, be conducted in two ways