touched by the hand of man or angel without permission of Him who gave it existence.

We are aware that some may object to the views we have advanced. It will be said there was a condition of society in which the Deity himself permitted the penalty of death. Therefore it may be

proper now, or, if not now, at some future day. Since the announcement of the Law, Heaven has given us a more perfect Revelation. And, in the very opening of that Revelation, the law of retaliation is forever abrogated. The law of love is the only law by which we are now to be governed. Ages may pass away before Christianity shall reign upon our earth. That it will eventually 'reconcile all things,' we have no more doubt than of the existence of the system itself. Mr. Rantoul has met this objection so admirably that we prefer to give an answer in his own words: 'But, because a peculiar people, under the most peculiar circumstances, by as express an interposition of Heaven, as that which directed Abraham to offer up Isaac, were commanded to punish certain crimes with death, shall we, a polished and humane people, whose moral sensibility is deeply wounded by the spectacle, under circumstances essentially opposite to theirs, without warrant, violate the great command, which says to the legislator as well as to the subject, thou shalt not kill? This is the command both of nature and revelation; it grows out of no local or temporary occasion, but is eternal and universal in the obligation it imposes. How, then, dare any man disobey it; and how is it an excuse for our disobedience, that the man we kill has broken this law before we break it, and that we have taken into our own hands to exercise upon him that vengeance which

the Almighty has declared belongs to himself, because He, in his inscrutable purposes, some thousands of years ago, specially authorized a particular people, in specified cases, to be the executors of his vengeance? We have no message from Heaven, as they had, exempting from this law the four cases which our statutes exempt.' It should ever be borne in mind that our circumstances are entirely different from that of Israel. We are not a wandering tribe, just out of Egypt, passing through a wilderness! Our manners, our customs, our religion, are all different. Indeed, it would require a long labor to point out the peculiarities of the two conditions of society to which we have alluded. Yet there are many who really contend that the code given to Israel in their wanderings three thousand years ago, would answer for the present condition of society! It is forgotten that they had just escaped from the house of bondage, where they had been held in the most abject slavery. We cannot now, perhaps, tell precisely what was that condition. One writer says, 'that it probably exceeded any of the present hordes of savages in the wilds of Africa or Tartary, in slavish ignorance, sordid vices, loathsome diseases, and brutal lusts!' It betrays, then, a gross ignorance, to contend that the code of this ancient people may be applied to the present condition of society, especially when we call to mind that Moses himself bid us look to a higher Prophet.

It will be said that the Deity violated his own law; that He said to Israel, Thou shalt not kill,' and yet incorporated the life-taking principle in the very same code. The following, from one who has thought very

deeply on this subject, meets this objection in a very able manner: 'Without discussing the question, whether God could really suspend, or positively command, the violation of any of the moral precepts embodied in the decalogue, either for the purpose of benefitting or punishing any of the creatures whom he has made, we meet the objection by saying that, whatever may have been the excellences or defects of the Mosaic code or dispensation, it prophesied of a time when it would be superseded by a higher and holier covenant; and, having now vanished away, it is no longer to be put on an equality with the new one, or to be referred to as of binding authority. Whatever was morally good in it, or in accordance with the moral nature of man, is, of course, embodied in the new covenant, and carried to perfection. Now let the objector point out where, in the latter, permission is given to take away human life, in any case, or for any object whatever. To whom shall we go but to Christ? What were his teachings on the subject of violence, and in regard to the punishment of enemies? What did he say about taking the sword? What about coming to save men's lives? What in regard to his ability to defend himself? How did he feel towards those who crucified him between two thieves? They who appeal to the old covenant are bound to give heed to the voice of the new. They who bid us think highly of Moses, must concede that far greater reverence is due to Christ.'t

But let us turn from Moses, and from every other prophet, to Him who 'came from the bosom of the

See Sermon on the Mount.

† See Hebrews iii. 1-7.

Father,' the Light of the world, the Physician who came to remove the moral maladies of the human soul; the Morning Star who came to usher in a day of quietness and repose; the Good Shepherd who is to bring home the last wanderer to the fold of God.

15*

ESSAY IV.

TEACHINGS OF CHRIST.

Sermon on the Mount-Law of retaliation—Present law-Story of an executioner-The adulteress-Law of Moses-Feelings to be entertained towards the criminal-Anecdote-Request to call fire from heaven-Peter's request-Forgiveness-Moses and Christ – Objection—Sentence of Christ-His precepts--Objection of Hudson-Reply--Duty of the church—-Objection--New covenant—The crucifixion—Eulogium upon Howard-Prayer-meeting in a murderer's cell-Death of Christ.

For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. JESUS CHRIST.

AFTER wandering among the types and shadows of the Mosaic dispensation, it is refreshing to come to that more excellent ministry; to him who is the Mediator of a better covenant. We feel as though we had crossed the desert, and were about entering Canaan. As we approach, we hear the song, not of Moses and his host, but of angels uttering, in strains unheard before, PEACE ON EARTH, GOOD WILL TO MEN. We place our feet on the plain of Bethlehem, beside the cradle of the great Christian Legislator, with an illuminated sky above us. Here are no gibbets, no ruthless desolations, but all is lovely and refreshing. We stand upon the Rock Christ Jesus, looking back to the first covenant,' with its ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary;' and forward to that 'new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us through the vail.' 'Let us draw near with a