deed heard by Him who is mighty to save, and that they will be answered by Him so far as is consistent with His own ineffable wisdom and goodness, they are as the breath of spiritual life to the Christian. This assurance gives a feeling of reality, depth and tenderness to our devotions, which enables us to enter, in some measure, into that communion with our God, which is to be the portion and reward of the accepted spirit in the heavenly world. Do we not speak to the experience of the reader in this? Is there no response to these words, in his own consciousness? If so, let him not, on this account, reject the doctrine we thus assert and cherish. It is possible he is no competent judge in this matter. He may be very wary and very successful in all those selfish calculations and objects which regard this present world. He may deem himself so wise and clear-headed as to feel authorized to say that we are speaking the language of excited feeling and raised enthusiasm. But still this may be a subject, on which, with his present state and habits of mind, he is not qualified to speak. His pursuits may have led him into trains of thought so diverse and even opposite, that he can have no sympathy with ours in this. There yet may be a boon and a blessedness here on the earth to be enjoyed, of which, with his merely earthly objects before him, he has not yet attained the slightest conception. And let him be reminded, yet further, there may be a wisdom of the soul whose price no earthly wealth can reach. Have any whose eyes rest on these lines, felt this communion of the heart with its God, they, they know that our words, and that all words, serve rather as shadows than as lights to indicate the blessed reality.

J. B.

THE GOSPEL TEACHING BY EXAMPLE.

To the philosophical inquirer, Christianity, probably, presents no stronger evidence of its divine origin than is to be found in its admirable adaptation to the nature of man; to the wants, the weaknesses, the power and aspirations of the human soul. What circumstance is there in our condition, what infirmity of our nature, mental or moral, what illusion of our passions or imagination, what perversion of our affections, or what capability of improvement, what law of our being, in short, which has not, so to speak, been taken into the account in arranging the gospel system, and for which adequate and appropriate provision has not been made? It has precepts plain and simple enough for the apprehension of the lowest and least intellectual of our race, and principles lofty and extensive enough to employ the speculations of the noblest and most cultivated minds. It soothes and sustains the gentlest and most timid dispositions; and its sanctions are solemn and powerful enough to bind and control the boldest and most reckless. It adapts itself with equal facility to the rudest and most polished conditions of society. It keeps pace, and more than keeps pace, with the progresss of improvement. It expands with the discoveries of science; guides and cheers on the speculations of philosophy, and is perpetually in advance of the age. Like the air and the light of heaven, there is no space so minute that it cannot enter, nor so vast that it cannot fill it.

In this respect, it is unlike all other religious systems that have ever existed. It is more; it stands in strong

contrast with them all. Not one of these, however ingeniously devised and artfully constructed, but left something unprovided for. One system would answer under given circumstances, but would be inapplicable if these were changed. One would bind the vulgar, but was ridiculed and contemned, and deserved to be so, by the better informed. And all were local and temporary in their very nature. Each contained within itself the seeds of decay and dissolution. Not one of them possessed any great permanent principles which could endure the lapse of ages, or resist the shock of events, or adapt themselves to any great changes in physical condition or political institutions. In consequence, many of these have disappeared from the face of the earth; and those that remain have become decrepit and effete; they have 'decayed, waxed old, and are ready to vanish away.' One trait was characteristic of them all. They consisted, essentially, of forms and ceremonies; of gorgeous pageantry and minute observances. The consciences of men were bound to postures and punctilios, to things wholly indifferent, or intrinsically absurd. The essential spirit of every one of them was slavish and debasing. They had no light to shed upon the mind, no energy to infuse into the spiritual faculties. There was nothing to sustain the soul under the misfortunes of the present life, or to mitigate its apprehensions for the future. Christianity, on the contrary, has nothing local or temporary in its character. It is the same yesterday and to day and forever,' and everywhere. It is adapted to man, as he is in the abstract-to man as a rational, immortal spirit, as the creature, the subject, the son of God; and

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not to man as modified by physical circumstances, by political institutions, by local prejudices, or temporary usages. With all these it has no concern. It is above and beyond them all; and by overlooking and disregarding them all, it provides for them all. Christianity has no forms. It is independent of them all. It prescribes no postures, it inculcates no observances. Bodily exercise-such is its language-'bodily exercise profiteth little.' Its seat, and the object of its influence is the human soul; and to impart light and power to this, is its whole design. All other systems, so far as they have pretended to a moral influence at all, have busied themselves with the streams, and endeavored to purify them upwards. Christianity alone has gone at once to the fountains. Which of these courses sa

vours most of truth and divinity?

But perhaps the most striking peculiarity of the Christian system is to be found in the fact, that it alone has adopted the principle of teaching by example. Not, that it has no dogmatic instructions. It is full of them and they are all, in the judgment even of its enemies, sober, rational and practical. But these precepts and this is its peculiarity-are animated and invested with divine power by being embodied in the character, and referring continually to the example of its founder. It is by this example that they are modified, illustrated and confirmed. This affords a demonstration, at once, of their practicability, their pertinence and their beauty; and thus gives to them a deeper sanction, binds them on the conscience, and endears them to the affections. The gospel has set before men a perfect model of human excellence. A model which

approves itself to the judgment of all, and to which it is in the power of all alike to conform. It is not a model for men of this or that rank and condition in life; for the rich, or the poor; the learned, or the ignorant; but for men of whatever name or description. It is sufficient, that they are men. It adapts itself to the one great, universal relation, which touches all alike. And its language to all, of every name and degree, is, 'be each in his respective sphere, and in regard to his appropriate obligations,-be like me. Carry with you into the duties and trials of life a spirit kindred to that which breathed in my conduct when on earth.' This is the sum and substance of the Christian doctrine; and it is sufficient. The man who does this is a Christian. The man who habitually and earnestly endeavors to be like Jesus, no matter by what name he is called, what vocation he pursues, or in what forms his devotions are offered, is a disciple of Christ, and a member of that spiritual communion which comprises all the good and holy, on earth and in heaven. There may be much of ignorance, and much of error, in his views of truth, and much of imperfection in his life. Still, if he is habitually governed by a sincere desire to conform to this model, the light of divine truth has dawned upon his mind, and it will go on shining brighter and brighter until the perfect day.'

tem.

This I have said is a peculiarity in the gospel sysAnd it is a peculiarity, which, the more it is contemplated, exhibits the clearer proofs of wisdom and benevolence. It is an expedient at once simple and sublime in its conception, instinct with heavenly energy, and productive of the most extensive and benefi