musical execution, and descriptive, or impassioned imitation, have been put into requisition for the public amusement. Many have been greatly delighted by such performances; nor do we ourselves pretend to be without susceptibility. But what has all this to do with the plain business of worshipping God? The journalists, to be sure, have often told us that it is the very thing required to give tone to the music of our worshipping assemblies. Go then to the oratorial rehearsal. Draw back the curtain before you. See that professional performer, the victim of intemperance, staggering along into the orchestra. Listen to his song "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day." He is succeeded perhaps with one whose mouth has just been fouled with profaneness, or blasphemy. He gives the professional pathos of " He was despised and rejected of men." Another, whose studied attitudes bespeak her emphatically, child of earth, is seen pathetically imploring the angels to TAKE HER TO THEIR CARE. And now, perhaps you will hear what purports to be the voice of a great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying "Hallelujah, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." Have the choir and the orchestra, then, at length caught the true spirit of heaven? The composer, (he too, if we may credit his biographer, could swear successively in five different languages,) has by dint of genius almost unparalleled, produced a happy arrangement of the music. Do we now hear any thing like the emphasis of joyous heavenly acclamations? No, nothing like it. This and all the other powerful choruses must, to be sure, have the same orchestral emphasis-the strong emphasis of alarm, not of joy, or exultation.

Give to these men, all that is due to them! Place them with the Campbells, the Scotts, and the Byrons, of our own times; but not among the schools of the prophets. Let them not aspire to the office of holy David, and Asaph, and

Heman, and Jeduthan. As well might we ask the mere master of oratory, to preach to us, or lead us by dint of his melifluous tones, in the exercise of social prayer. David, and Asaph, and their successors, addressed their inspired poetical effusions "to the chief singers." Would they have inscribed them to such characters as we have here alluded to? No: they would have driven them from their service.

Again, we say there must be a reformation. It must be begun, and carried forward perseveringly on Christian principles. Untiring zeal must be associated with intelligence and sound discretion. Christians must not rise up suddenly and cast out the minstrels whom they have so long permitted to occupy their place. They themselves have been the chief delinquents. And if we mistake not, they have long been suffering the consequences of such delinquency. We appeal to the conscience of the spiritually-minded worshipper. Why is it, that men of this character, have in late years, almost universally absented themselves from the schools of cultivation? Why have they so generally abandoned devotional singing in their families? Why in seasons of revival, have they so often discouraged music schools, and nearly excluded singing from their meetings for social prayer? Why too, have the clergy, the only men, who of all others, could exert themselves to the best advantage in this cause, so generally taken the lead in this abandonment of the art? Why is it, that at the present moment the pre-ponderating influence in favor of church music is without the pale of the visible church? The reason is obvious. Christians have for more than two centuries been sleeping over the subject, while the enemy has been busily sowing tares. The abuses now every where so preponderate that the art is lost upon these worshippers. And were they at length to rise up by a sudden impulse, to restore the art to its required rank among the exercises of the sanctuary; it is to be feared, that there would not now be found among them

influence, or skill, or intelligence, sufficient to enable them to carry the object into successful execution. Christians must first become cultivators, to some extent, in their own proper persons, before they can understand the exact length. and breadth of the work that lies before them. And is it not time to commence the work of preparation? Surely, the lame, the blind, the torn, and that which costs them nothing has long enough been offered in sacrifice. God is a Spirit, those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. He is a just God; he will not accept of robbery in the sacrifice of praise. He is a zealous God; he will not be nocked. His glory he will not give to another.

ON THE SONSHIP OF CHRIST.

ONE of the most difficult points of knowledge, is, to know how much may be known; to decide where the limits are to be placed to the speculations of the inquisitive mind of man. Neither philosophers nor theologians, have, in any age, observed these limits, and the consequence has been, that philosophy and theology, instead of being a systematic arrangement of the phenomena of the material and spiritual world, so far as they come within the range of our observation, or of the facts revealed in the word of God, are to so great an extent, the useless and contradictory speculations of men on things beyond the reach of our feeble powers. These speculations, as it regards divine things, are so mixed and enwoven with the facts and principles contained in the sacred Scriptures, that it is no easy task to determine, in every instance, what is revelation, and what is human philosophy. Yet with respect to almost every doctrine of the

Christian faith, this is a task, which, every sincere inquirer after truth, is called upon to perform. The modes of conceiving of these doctrines, in different minds and in different ages, are so various, that it is evident at first view, that much is to be referred to the spirit of each particular age, and to the state of mind of every individual. The history of theology affords so much evidence of the truth of this remark, that it probably will not be called in question. It must not be supposed, however, that every thing either in philosophy or theology is uncertain; that the one and the other is an ever changing mass of unstable speculations. There are in each, fixed principles and facts, which, although frequently denied by men whose minds have so little sense of truth, that evidence does not produce conviction, have maintained, and will maintain their hold on the minds and hearts of men. With regard to theology, the uniformity with which the great cardinal doctrines of our faith have been embraced, is not less remarkable, than the diversity which has prevailed in the mode of conceiving and explaining them. The fact, that there is one God, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are this God, that there is such a distinction between the Father, Son, and Spirit, as to lay a sufficient ground for the reciprocal use of the personal pronouns, has been the faith of the Christian church from first to last. And yet there is probably, no one doctrine contained in Scripture, which has been so variously defined and explained, as this. In the earlier ages of the church, when the religion of the Gospel was glowing in the hearts of all the followers of Christ, when it was peculiarly a religion of feeling, it was not to be expected that this mysterious doctrine should be very accurately defined. To the early Christians, Jesus Christ was God, to him their prayers were directed, their praises given-in him all their confi. dence was reposed. In their preaching, sermons, and apologies, they presented God the Father, Son, and Spirit, as the

great object of their worship, as the Christian's God. It is true, that very early, some few of the fathers, who had previously been speculative men, introduced their speculations into the doctrine of the Trinity, but this was far from being the prevalent character of this period. Irenenus is a much better representative of this age, than Justin Martyr, and we find him expostulating against the various attempts which had been made to explain the inexplicable mysteries of the Godhead. When religion had in some measure, passed from the heart to the head, when the different modes of thinking and speaking on the subject of the Trinity, which had long prevailed, began to give rise to serious evils; and when opinions where adopted, inconsistent with the great Bible-fact, which had previously been almost universally admitted, then a necessity arose for those in authority, to state with more precision, what was the faith of the church on this important point. That the modes of expression employed in their authoritative exposition of this doctrine, were derived from the prevalent modes of thought of that age, and were intended to meet particular forms of error, may be readily admitted, while we maintain that the truth which they meant to convey, was nothing more than the great fundamental doctrine of the Christian church. need not be concealed, that the expressions, which in various ages, and by distinguished writers, have been employed on this subject, have often been infelicitous and improper. Expressions, which if strictly interpreted and urged, would imply either, Tritheism on the one hand, or Sabellianism on the other. While at the same time, to the minds of those who used them, they implied only what all Chris. tians recognise as the corner stone of their faith. It is much to be lamented, that so much animosity has been excited, and so much time and labor wasted on points of dispute, which arose from the imperfection of human language, or the weakness of the human mind. There has this good

It