-to "be perfect as our Father which is in heaven is perfect,"—and the announcement of the misery that would attend the neglect of these commands,as merely arbitrary laws, established by the Creator for reasons known only to himself; and He is thus made to appear as a despotic sovereign, to be feared because he has power to punish the infraction of his laws, rather than as an object of grateful and affectionate adoration, no less for the good he has given, than for what he has promised. Take the argument with the precept-show that it is in the nature of things that whatever felicity an intellectual being is capable of, must be akin to that enjoyed by the Deity; and that therefore if we seek happiness in any other direction, we shall necessarily fail of our object and we immediately see the fatherly kindness of the command; and the very announcement that any other course would be attended with perdurable misery, instead of appearing in the light of a vindictive denunciation of punishment shows itself to be what it really is-the caution of an affectionate and anxious parent, who

66 metuensque moneret Acres esse viros, cum dura prælia gente;"

and does not send forth his child to the combat till he has given him every counsel, and provided him. with every defence which the fondest concern could dictate.

This is not, I am aware, the most usual mode of viewing the subject, and it is perhaps because it is not, that our religion is frequently cold and unprofitable. If the conforming our will to the will of the Deity, or, in other words, the finding our pleasure in the same objects, be requisite to our happiness, it is clear that fear will be a very ineffectual agent

in the business. We may choose a certain course of action because we dread the punishment consequent on the contrary course, but we shall not do so because it is a pleasure to us. Even the most unphilosophical religious teacher will allow that this is not the state of mind which the true Christian should aim at, for, says St. John, "Perfect love casteth out fear;" and nothing can be juster than the distinction made by the late Alexander Knox, between the imperfect Christian who fears, and the perfect one who loves; for as the doing an act under the dread of punishment is but a yielding of the will to one of the least exalted of the animal emotions, so it tends very little, if at all, to the amelioration of the character. The evil actions which might engender evil habits have been avoided, but we have accustomed ourselves to be actuated by a cowardly motive which a great mind ought to despise, and a Christian to eschew. Added to all this, the emotion which is the foundation of this kind of virtue is of a painful nature, and therefore another instinctive emotion,that of shrinking from present suffering, very quickly counteracts it; for in proportion as the fear is great, will be the effort of nature to allay or stifle it; thus the small influence it exercises over the will is transitory also.

--

It is no new discovery of mine that we must do what we like, or, in other words, like what we do, in order to be happy. All men know and act upon this principle; can we suppose it unknown to Him who made us? and can we suppose also, that knowing the conformity of our will to His to be our happiness, He would take by preference so inadequate an agent as fear, to lead us to identify ourselves with Him? for this identity of will with the Deity, it cannot be too often repeated, is the sum and sub

stance of religion as well as of philosophy. We are to become, as it were, a part of the Divine essence; his children; one in our interests, our affections, our designs: and thus identified with the Father of our love, we have his wisdom for our guide, his power to effect our utmost desires. A religion made up of terrors offers no attraction; we only half believe it, for it is repugnant to all our rational and instinctive feelings; it is unlovely; we cannot cherish it in our hearts as the source of happiness, or keep it beside us in our lighter hours as our companion and guide. On the contrary, the philosophic view being in itself pleasant, never seems importunate or misplaced: it lays hold on our feelings, and dwells with them till it becomes a constant principle of action. It is rational and satisfies the intellect; and the will thus learning to love what is both agreeable and wise, all inclination to any other course disappears. We feel that by pursuing a different one we should be unhappy; for it is not till we have depraved our nature that we make even a step in the wrong path without pain, and what at first was weighed and judged fitting, becomes at last so habitual, that we may act almost without reflection, and act right.

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There is always one great obstacle to the reception of the simple religion or philosophy (for I know no difference between them) taught by Christ during his ministry on earth; it is its very simplicity. It is hard to persuade men that it is not some great thing" that is required of them; like Naaman, who despised the order to "wash and be clean" of his leprosy. Yet it is this simplicity, this conformity to common sense and common feeling, which proves its divinity the most decidedly; for the law, and the nature to be governed by that law, have evidently

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been the work of the same hand. "Est enim virtus nihil aliud quam in se perfecta et ad summum perducta natura," said the Roman philosopher long ago, and it is a truth well worth remembering. The same objection that is now made to the rational views of Christianity, viz., that it makes its professors men of this world, was made to its first great teacher; "Behold a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.' Yet when the Saviour thought it not beneath him to sit at the table of Zaccheus at what we should now call a large dinner party, it is evident that no sour restraints are imposed on the Christian, even if we have never heard of any rule of life but the following His steps who was sent to be an example for us. The Saviour did not sit at that table in vain; we hear of no severe reproofs; no stern lecture; but he who knew well what man's affections could do, won the heart of Zaccheus. "The half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have done any wrong to any man, I restore him fourfold," was the resolution taken by the giver of the feast at that dinner; and it is thus that the servant of Christ, the philosopher in the true sense of the word-for what is love of wisdom but love of the wisdom or 20yos of God?—it is thus, I say, that the servant of Christ may move in the world, blessing and blessed. Polished, eloquent, dignified, Christ exhibited, amid the world which he did not fly from, a pattern of everything that was attractive in man. So may, and so should the Christian; and thus sanctify and purify society by his presence and example, till the precepts of our great Master become its precepts also; till forgiveness of injuries and purity of life be thought as

* "Virtue is nothing but the utmost perfection of our nature." vertel & nothy T

necessary to the character of a gentleman, as truth is even now; till amusements and business, trade and politics, shall alike own the healing influence, and "the kingdoms of the world" become what,— notwithstanding the boastful title of Christendom,*— they never have been yet, "the kingdoms of God and of his Christ.'

It was the pure philosophy of Christianity, its exact accordance with every want and wish of our nature, that spread the doctrine of the poor fishermen of Galilee through the palaces and the schools, no less than the shops and the farms, of Greece and Rome, It has now ceased to spread, and why? Is it not because its Philosophy is forgotten? Is it not that by being made to consist in a certain set of mysterious dogmata which it is almost forbidden to examine, it is put on a level with those false systems which shrink from the light, because they know they will suffer from being seen when exposed to it? It was not thus that Christianity was first preached to the world. Its teachers and its martyrs appealed to its rationality, to its accordance with the highest conceptions of the wisest and the best of the Grecian sages. They contrasted its purity with the abominations of Paganism; the brotherly love of its followers, with the ferocity, treachery and hatred of the rest of the world; they showed that there must be a God, and that He could be no other than they described. The Eternal God, said they, must be essentially rational. Exerted or not, the wisdom to know, and the power to act must be co-eternal in him. We do not worship two Gods, as you object to us; the aoyos (rational faculty) of God, animated a human form, and spoke to us through human lips, "God was in Christ reconciling

*The domain of Christ.