the Assembly maintained the law of the church in authorizing kirk sessions to refuse baptism and other special privileges, on the ground of neglecting ordinances, even if that were the only fault. This surely shows that there is still some little railing around our communion. And in the College Church case, it will be admitted by all, that the Rev. Mr. Tait was treated with all tenderness, as was doubtless due, and that at the same time measures were adopted for fully maintaining the peace and purity of the church.

I do not regret that I have been prevented from adding lengthened remarks on these decisions, believing, as I do, that they speak for themselves. Should any point, however, occur, as requiring elucidation, you are aware that I shall be ready to give you any information I can. It is the earnest desire and frequent prayer of the writer, that all the walls of separation between church and church were rendered as the ornamental divisions of some flower-garden, separating one compartment from another, but leaving the unity of the whole entire, and its beauty unimpaired. And on this account it gives him pain to have to refer, except in terms of commendation, to any of his brethren in other churches. He has therefore written some of the above remarks only under a painful sense of duty, which must be his apology, should any appear necessary. Hoping that the spirit of Knox, as well as the print of his head, will long distinguish the Orthodox Presbyterian,

I am, dear Sir, &c.

A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.

DEFECTS AND USES OF NATURAL THEOLOGY. (From Chalmers on the Moral and Intellectual Condition of Man.)

"WE hold that the theology of nature sheds powerful light on the being of a God; and that, even from its unaided demonstrations, we can reach a considerable degree of probability, both for His moral and natural attributes. But when it undertakes the question between God and man, this is what it finds to be impracticable. It is here where the main helplessness of nature lies. It is baffled in all its attempts to decipher the state and the prospects of man, viewed in the relation of an offending subject to an offended sovereign. In a word, its chief obscurity, and which it is wholly unable to disperse, is that which rests on the hopes and the destiny of our species. There is in it enough of manifestation to awaken the fears of guilt, but not enough again to appease them. It emits, and audibly emits, a note of terror; but in vain do we listen for one authentic word

of comfort from any of its oracles. It is able to see the danger, but not the deliverance. It can excite the forebodings of the human spirit, but cannot quell them-knowing just enough to stir the perplexity, but not enough to set the perplexity at rest. It can state the difficulty, but cannot unriddle the difficulty-having just as much knowledge as to enunciate the problem, but not so much as might lead to the solution of the problem. There must be a measure of light, we do allow; but, like the lurid gleam of a volcano, it is not a light which guides, but which bewilders and terrifies. It prompts the question, but cannot frame or furnish the reply. Natural theology may see as much as shall draw forth the anxious interrogation, "What shall I do to be saved?" The answer to this comes from a higher theology.

"These are the grounds on which we would affirm the insufficiency of that academic theism, which is sometimes set forth in such an aspect of completeness and certainty, as might seem to leave a revelation or a gospel wholly uncalled for. Many there are who would gloss over the difficulties of the question; and who, in the midst of all that undoubted outrage which has been inflicted by sinful creatures on the truth, and the holiness, and the justice of God, would, by merging all the attributes of the Divinity into a placid and undistinguishing tenderness, still keep their resolute hold of heaven, as at least the splendid imagination, by which to irradiate the destinies of our species. It is thus that an airy unsupported romance has been held forth as the vehicle, on which to embark all the hopes and the hazards of eternity. We would not disguise the meagre ness of such a system. We would not deliver the lessons of natural theology, without telling at the same time of its limits. We abjure the cruelty of that sentimentalism, which, to hush the alarms of guilty man, would rob the Deity of his perfections, and stamp a degrading mockery upon his law. When expounding the arguments of natural theology, along with the doctrines which it dimly shadows forth, we must speak of the difficulties which itself suggests, but which it cannot dispose of; we must make mention of the obscurities into which it runs, but which it is unable to dissipate-of its unresolved doubts—of the mysteries through which it vainly tries to grope its uncertain way-of its weary and fruitless efforts of its unutterable longings. And should, on the one hand, the speculations of human ingenuity, and, on the other, the certainties of a well accredited revelation, come forth to illuminate this scene of darkness—we must not so idolize the light or the sufficiency of nature, as to turn from the firmament's meridian blaze, that we might witness and admire the tiny lustre of a glow-worm.

"The two positions are perfectly reconcileable-first, of the insufficiency of natural religion; 'and secondly, the great actual importance of it. It is the wise and profound saying of D'Alembert, that, man has too little sagacity to resolve an infinity of questions, which he has yet sagacity enough to make.' Now this marks the degree in which natural theology is sagacious-being able, from its own resources, to construct a number of cases, which, at the same time, it is not able to reduce. These must be handed up for solution to a higher calculus; and thus it is, that the theology of nature and of the schools, the theology of the ethical class though most unsatisfactory, when treated as a terminating science -is most important, and the germ of developements at once precious and delightful, when treated as a rudimental one. It is a science, not so much of dicta as of desiderata; and, from the way in which these are

met by the counterpart doctrines of the gospel, the light of a powerful and most pleasing evidence is struck out by the comparison between them. It is that species of evidence which arises from the adaptation of a mould to its counterpart form; for there is precisely this sort of fitting, in the adjustment which obtains, between the questions of the natural and the responses of the supernatural theology. For the problem which natural theology cannot resolve, the precise difficulty which it is wholly unable to meet or to overcome, is the restoration of sinners to acceptance and favour with a God of justice. All the resources and expedients of natural theology are incompetent for this solution-it being, in fact, the great desideratum which it cannot satisfy. Still it performs an important part in making us sensible of the desideratum. It makes known to us our sin; but it cannot make known to us salvation. Let us not overlook the importance of that which it does, in its utter helplessness, as to that which it does not. It puts the question, though it cannot answer the question; and no where so much as at this turning-point, are both the uses and the defects of natural theology so conspicuously blended.

"Natural theology then, however little to be trusted, as an informer, yet as an enquirer, or rather as a prompter to inquiry, is of inestimable service. It is a high function that she discharges; for though not able to satisfy the search, she impels to the search. We are apt to undervalue, if not to set her aside altogether, when we compare her obscure and imperfect notices with the lustre and the fulness of revelation. But this is because we overlook the virtue that lies in the probabilities of a subject a virtue, either, on the one hand, to fasten the attention; or, on the other hand, to condemn the want of it. This we hold to be the precise office of natural theology-and an office too, which she performs, not merely as the theology of science among those who listen to her demonstrations in the academic hall; but which she also performs with powerful and practical effect, as the theology of conscience, throughout all the classes of our general population. It is this initial work which makes her so useful, we should say so indispensable, as a preliminary to the gospel. Natural theology is quite overrated by those who would represent it as the foundation of the edifice. It is not that, but rather the taper by which we must grope our way to the edifice. The stability of a fabric is not greater than the stability of that upon which it rests; and it were ascribing a general infirmity to revelation, to set it forth, as leaning upon natural theism, in the way that a mathematical doctrine leans upon the axioms or first principles of the science. Christianity rests on its own proper evidence; and if, instead of this, she be made to rest on an antecedent natural religion, she becomes weak throughout, because weak radically. It is true, that in theology the natural goes before the revealed, even as the cry of weakness or distress goes before the relief to which it aspires, and which it is prompted to seek after. It goes before, not synthetically in the order of demonstration, but historically in the mind of the enquirer. It is not that natural religion is the premises, and Christianity the conclusion; but it is that natural religion creates an appetite which it cannot quell; and he who is urged thereby, seeks for a rest and a satisfaction which he can only obtain in the fulness of the gospel. Natural theology has been called the basis of Christianity. It would accord better with our own views of the place which it occupies, and of the high purpose which it undoubtedly serves-if it were called the basis of Christianization.

THE PRESBYTERIAN.

We have been favoured with a file of American Newspapers, containing, besides other valuable matter, a series of letters to the Presbyterians of the United States, by Dr. Miller, of Princetown. This learned divine is already favourably known in this country, as the author of letters on Presbyterianism, and also on the Eldership. The letters now published in the Newspapers, and intended, we are informed, to be collected into a volume, are extremely valuable. Some of them are adapted to the peculiar circumstances of the church in America, and others generally applicable to the church in all places. We doubt not it will be very gratifying and, we trust, profitable to our readers, to be favoured with an opportunity of perusing some of these; and we have therefore resolved to devote our Presbyterian department, for a few numbers, to extracts from them. In the present number we give entire the following important letter, under the title

DOING GOOD AS A CHURCH.

CHRISTIAN BRETHREN,-Useful activity is the medicine of life. It is adapted to benefit the agent himself as much as the objects of his benevolent attention. No idle man can be either healthful, happy, or morally prosperous. To be stagnant is to be miserable, as well as useless. This is a law of our being, as invariable as it is unavoidable. And the same principle which applies so universally and essentially to our intellectual and physical structure, is no less applicable to our spiritual life. A torpid inactive Christian cannot be a prosperous one. The disciple of Christ cannot, if he would, "live to him. self," without injuring his own soul. He must go out of himself if he would attain moral health and comfort. He must take a deep interest in his Master's kingdom, and desire and seek to promote it;-he must love his fellow men, pray for them, labour to promote their holiness and happiness; in a word, be daily employed in doing good. This is necessary not merely for the benefit of society, but for the spiritual health of the individual himself. It is not more certain that daily work nerves the arms, and invigorates the health of the labourer, and thus increases his personal enjoyment; than it is that habitual benevolent activity directly and essentially ministers to the Christian's own growth in grace :-or rather, to speak more properly, growth in grace itself essentially consists in cultivating the spirit and habits which characterize the benevolent, prayerful, diligent, good-doing Christian. Wherein consists the health of the body, but in the lively, unobstructed, harmonious action of all the corporeal organs?

So far as this is interrupted, disease must be the

consequence. In like manner, wherein consists the real health of the soul, but in spiritual sensibility, and in the daily exercise of all appropriate and commanded graces, toward our Father in heaven, toward the Saviour and his kingdom, and toward all our fellow-creatures?

You have, no doubt, anticipated me in applying these remarks to the church of God-the body of professing Christians. What is true of individuals, is true of communities. A torpid, prayerless, inactive church, however large, wealthy, or splendid, cannot be a prosperous church. Nay, however rich, extended, and outwardly flourishing it may be, if the spirit of ACTIVE, GOOD-DOING be extinct in it, it is a DEAD CHURCH, and cannot fail of speedily becoming a mass of spiritual putrefaction. But, on the other hand, that church which, in her collective capacity, is constantly employed in planning and labouring for the promotion of the great interests of knowledge, virtue, evangelical holiness, and salvation, is taking the most direct method to secure her own enjoyment, growth, and prosperity.

We have had occasion, more than once, in the preceding letters, to advert to the thought, that the great design of infinite wisdom in the institution of the church, was that she might be every where instrumental in promoting the reign of truth and holiness among men.. It was, no doubt, intended that she should constantly seek the spiritual improvement and welfare of her own members; but also that she should labour to communicate the blessings of salvation to every part of the human family within her reach, with all the zeal and efficacy of united effort. The history of the churches organized by the apostles affords unquestionable evidence that they so understood the design of their Master. From them the word of the Lord "sounded out" through all parts of the civilized world. Nor did this noble, disinterested missionary spirit cease to operate until they had become secularized and corrupted by a very different spirit. Accordingly, our venerable fathers of the Presbyterian Church, in the introduction to our Form of Government, justly remark, that "truth is in order to goodness, and the great touch-stone of truth its tendency to promote holiness." In conformity with this principle, they were no sooner organized than they began to direct their earnest attention to the great work of sending the Gospel to the destitute and the perishing.