opposition to these divine laws, indissoluble marriages, and unnecessary private property.' He goes on to assert, that these prejudices have uniformly produced the greatest crimes, suffering, and misery; and he adds, soon after, it, therefore, appeared to me to be the time when these artificial evils might be removed, and when an entire new order of things might be established.'" "But asking your pardon, Sir," said the Whitesmith. "Do not you, who hold the Christian Religion, profess to change the moral world ?" "We profess nothing of the sort by any wisdom or power of our own, but we teach this to be the great end and object of the Lord our God, who has revealed Himself to man in the Gospel; and we know no power short of God can change the world. And as we believe that the Spirit of God brooded over the dark unformed chaos, before order, light, and beauty appeared on the material world; so we believe that the same power must brood over the chaos of the fallen nature of the individual man, before any effectual change can take place in the fallen state of society. But I think you do not, according to this Owenite system, believe that the nature of man is fallen, and needs to be renewed." "Why, not exactly so, Sir," said the Whitesmith. "Man is the creature of circumstances, and Priests and Rulers, and Laws enforced according to their bigotry and tyranny, have brought society to what it is; of course the individual has thus been degraded, but let his circumstances be changed, and we shall in time see a new order of men springing up from a new order of circumstances. We believe that all the religions of the world have originated in error; that they are directly opposed to the divine unchanging laws of human nature; that they are necessarily the source of vice, disunion, and misery; that they are now the only obstacle to the formation of a society over the earth of intelligence, of charity, in its most extended sense, and of sincerity and affection." "Are you quite sure," said the aged Minister, wo had listened with something like a stare of astonishment on his mild countenance "are you quite sure that you know what you are talking about?" "I only know, said the man somewhat sharply, "that I am using Mr. Owen's own words." "So i should suppose," said the Pastor, "but are you quite sure that he knows what he talks about? For my own part I do not suppose that I have any superior powers of understanding, but I must say, the more I look into this system, if it is worth the name of system, the more I am struck by its wretched absurdity. It is as daring an outrage upon common sense, as it is upon our holy religion; it is as opposed to the facts of every day life, as it is to the theories of Christian Philosophy. I see very little difference between the blasphemies of Thomas Paine and those of Robert Owen. When Mr. Owen said religions founded under the name of Jewish Budhu, Jehovah, God or Christ, Mahomet or any other, are all composed of human laws, in opposition to nature's eternal laws, and when these laws are analyzed, they amount to three absurdities, three gross impositions upon the ignorance or inexperience of mankind," he was only stealing from Tom Paine, who says, I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church I know of. My own mind is my own Church. All national institutions of Churches, whether Jewish, 66 Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and to monopolize power and profit." Eut whatever Mr. Owen may be in personal character and in private life, (and I have heard him spoken of as an amiable man,) I can only say that I heartily agree with a writer,* whose pamphlet is lying before me that the 'Socialist is a self-convicted infidel, not only an infidel, but a libertine; not only a libertine, but a scoffer; a scoffer of the worst description, who avows for his object the sweeping away of all existing laws, religions, and institutions from the world: that upon the broad, blank, and desolate platform, he may plant. a new creation;' in which shall dwell not 'righteousness,' but myriads of rational' beings, who are to render themselves supremely happy by joining the blasphemy of the Atheist to the sensuality of the brute." "Well, sir, we shall see," said the Whitesmith: "Mr. Owen is well aware that he has to meet a whole host of prejudices, but if we live to see the experiment of his principles fairly tried, perhaps, a different order of things, and a different order of men, will shew to the world, what pure virtue really is, when freed from the shackles of superstition and tyranny." "There is no occasion to wait out the trial of such principles," said the aged man. "The experiment has heen tried. I am old enough to remember the French Revolution. Though more than forty years have past away, France has not yet recovered from the tremendous effects of that moral earthquake. Reason has been worshipped as a goddess, in the person of a prostitute, and liberty has been proclaimed by those who allowed no liberty, but the licence of their own vile and worthless passions; proclaimed amid the shrieks and groans, and dying agonies of unnumbered victims. All that was noble, and venerable, and sacred, was swept away, and the national voice publicly lifted up to deny the existence of a God, in order that men, who liked not to retain God in their knowledge, might have, both the sphere and the opportunity permitted to them, of working out their own wretched systems; and what have we seen? the reign of terror! as that frightful epoch has since been justly named; and earth exhibiting upon its surface a faint picture of the disorder and the misery of hell itself." (To be continued.) * See "Socialism as a Religious Theory irrational and absurd," by John Eustace Giles. CHRIST JESUS! dost Thou always plead With God in heaven for me! Oh! grant that as a little child I may be brought to Thee. As Thou didst walk upon the wave So may I thro' a stormy world As Thou didst set the trusting sick I ask not worldly wealth, or power, For then tho' poor in this world's goods Thro' the rich mercies of Thy grace E. SCRIPTURE PORTRAITS. No. 3. OUR FIRST PARENTS. With a rapid pencil are these portraits delineated. Their history is concisely narrated; but how eventful that history! The details are brief; but how pregnant with instruction! This constitutes a very striking difference between the biographies of the Bible, and those with which, in our days, the press is continually I teeming. The latter, of which the subject is one who, while living, occupied, perhaps, no very large or important space in the eyes of mankind, are expanded into several volumes; are given with the utmost copiousness and minuteness of detail; weary by their prolixity; and are consequently closed with pleasure. The former are concisely given, simply told, possessing, in the view of a spiritual mind, an interest which never gives place to satiety, a charm which never fades, and stores of practical instruction which are never exhausted. How wisely and how kindly has God adapted his revelation to the circumstances of men; comprising it in one volume sufficiently large to contain all which it is essential for man, in his present state of being, to know; and not so large, but that even those, who have comparatively but little time for reading, may acquire an extensive and intimate knowledge of its contents. In the account which is given of the earthly Stem, on which the great Heavenly Parent ordained that the whole human family should grow, we find that like every thing which God has formed, it was, as it came out of the hands of God, "good, very good," and only good. As in the other productions of his creative power, so in Adam, the eye of Him, to whom "all things are naked and open," could detect no. blemish. For, though he was "formed of the dust of the ground," and this, the recollection of our origin, "of the earth, earthy," should check every rising of pride, and clothe us with deep humility; he was arrayed in the beauties of the image and likeness of his God, and this should humble us still more, the recollection that that image we have, alas! lost. And beautiful wast thou, O mother of mankind, when issuing from the side of Adam, as he slept, thou also didst reflect thy Maker's image. For this was not the privilege of Adam alone: we read, "So God created man in his own image; in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." Beautiful, too, was Eve, as the type and representative of the church of God; springing, as it were, from the opened side, instinct and warm with life from the very heart's blood of the second Adam, as he slept in death upon the wondrous cross. Were it not for the agonies of that atoning death, were it not for "the travail of" the Redeemer's "Soul," God would have no church amongst men; apostacy and rebellion would fill every heart, and blacken every life; Satan would maintain an undisturbed and undisputed empire: and of every human being, without one solitary exception, the appropriate and appalling description would be "without God in the world!" "God," saith Hooker, "frameth the church out of the very flesh, the very wounded and bleeding side of the Son of Man. His body crucified, and his blood shed for the life of the world, are the true elements of that heavenly being, which maketh us such as himself is, of whom we come. For which cause the words of Adam may be fitly the words of Christ concerning the Church, "flesh of my flesh, and bone of my bones." In "the garden of the Lord," teeming and blooming with beauty on every side, were our first parents placed. But paradise was not only without them: paradise was within them. And the fruits and the flowers which displayed the rich and varied hues of loveliness, and exhaled the sweets of their fragrance around them, might be regarded as emblems of those fruits of righteousness, and that beauty of holiness, with which their hearts and their lives were enriched and adorned. What an aspect of loveliness, we may easily conceive, was presented by the features of our first parents, when their bosoms were the mansions of purity, the temples of piety, the throne of God! When not a single unholy conception cast its dark shadow for a moment over their imagination; when not a single unholy thought profaned and polluted the sanctuary of their mind when every feeling and every affection moved in perfect harmony with the will of their God, how beautiful, how glorious these beings, which his word had called into existence. alas! the beauty is faded: the glory is departed. But, Of the human family, as Adam was created the parent, so he was constituted by God the covenant head and representative. The covenant was violated; the penalty incurred; the image of God effaced; the happiness of man blighted in the bud; and a withering curse laid, for his sake, upon the very earth on which he trod. Mark, how Satan rifled from man the sweets of his holiness, his happiness, and his peace. Mark, how wilily the tempter works for the accomplishment of his purposes. It is unspeakably important that we should not be "ignorant of his crafty devices:" for his nature is unchanged and unchangeable; he is the same malignant and subtle foe to us, that he was to our first parents; he has the same consummate skill in veiling his designs, while he seeks to ensnare, to betray, and to ruin. How did he "beguile Eve through his subtlety?" He approached her in the guise, he addressed her in the accents of friendship. He professed an ardent zeal for her interests, and assured her that those interests would be most effectually promoted, if his counsel were followed: "Ye shall be as Gods." He promised safety in the path of sin. He affirmed that God would never inflict the penalty, which he had denounced as the consequence of transgression: "Ye shall not surely die." Are not these the very darts which he is continually drawing from his quiver bow, and casting around him on every side? Is it not with the very same weapons that he still assaults the souls of men? The acquisition of some advantage, or the enjoyment of some pleasure; impunity in the ways of transgression; disbelief of the plain declarations of God's Word; a persuasion that he will not execute his threatenings;-by artifices and allurements such as these, does the tempter still seek to beguile, through his subtlety," the children of 66 men. Eve parlied with the tempter, and thus gave him a great advantage over her. She should have fled from him, as a most dangerous enemy, at the very first doubt which he insinuated of the veracity of God. Here, she stands as a beacon to warn her children to the end of time. Whether the infidel calls himself a Socialist, or assumes some other specious and imposing name, the very first attempt which he makes to shake our faith in any one plain declaration of God, the very first doubt which he insinuates whether what is written" shall "come to pass," should be sufficient to unmask to us his true character, and to unfold the real nature of his designs. Eve gazed at the forbidden fruit, till, through the inlet of a fascinated and admiring eye, unlawful desire gained admission into her soul, acquiring greater degrees of strength as she continued to gaze. Here again she is a beacon to warn us. Why gaze on that which is prohibited by God? "It is not, nor-it cannot come to-good." Hath he forbidden it? Let that suffice. In turning away at once from the alluring object, consist our wisdom, our safety, and our peace. Let us learn from the history of the first and fatal temptation, that gazing on the object, and parleying with the tempter, are the swift harbingers of our defeat, and the heralds which proclaim the approaching triumph of our enemy. (To be continued.) PASTOR. Thoughts on Union with Christ. WHAT striking language is used concerning the Church of God-a glorious church. What a wonderful thought is that-"ye are the light of the world;" it would be in darkness without the people of God. And that statement, yet more remarkable," which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." But this is a reflected glory, all derived from him, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, all intended to reflect into the world, the image and the character of him by whom a God of Love is known; that as God is known to his people through Christ, so Christ should be known by the world through his people. And what blessings flow to God's people through Jesus Christ; perhaps it will be more scriptural to say in Jesus Christ. What mercies flow through that channel of the church united to Christ, and still, perhaps, this blessed thought is overlooked too much by many Christian people, who look upon Christ as a Saviour and Mediator, but do not enough dwell upon, and draw the precious sweetness from, that thought, that their risen Lord is the head of his body, the church. The membership of each true Christian with Christ sometimes hardly finds a place in the ground of the comforts of believing souls. Upon this subject the Gospel is rich in illustrations; various objects, within our daily observation, are brought forward to illustrate and explain the meaning of this blessed truth; and, indeed, this is one especial way in which the deep truths of the word of God are brought home to the understandings of those to whom the word of God is written, of those the eyes of whose understandings are blinded. One of the most interesting illustrations of union with Christ is to be found in John xv. chap.-the tree and its branches. As we stand to contemplate the stately oakthe monarch of the forest, or the exotic vine, flourishing, and putting forth the tender grape, or see all, from the stem to the thinnest twig, united, and partaking of the same life, the same sap, the same strength, drawn up from the roots to the stem, and circulating to the very extremity of its branches; what an image is this of the union between Christ and his people! He the stem, they the branches; some larger, some smaller, some stronger, some weaker, some more fruitful, some less fruitful, some more beautiful, more honourable than others, but all one with the stem, and all equally branches, and forming one tree. But instead of this, we were to take a stem, and upon it tie the larger branches, and to them again tie the smaller twigs, what would the work be? The mere uniting likeness of a tree, with no life, no sap, no strength, no union. Suppose again we see a tree, with all its principal branches shortened-cut off-and in their place a number of twigs inserted-graffed in. We might perhaps be led to enquire, will these dry branches live? A short time passes, the wood becomes united to the stem of the parent tree, its sap flows into them, they live, not by their own life, but by the virtue flowing from the parent stem. suppose, Another obvious and beautiful illustration is given in the thought, the body, and its members, referred to Eph. v. 30. We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. As we look upon the hand, beautifully and delicately as it is formed, do we ever consider it endowed with separate life? does not its life flow from the body? do we ever consider it endowed with separate volition ? Are not all its motions regulated by the head? We may say the same of every separate member, their vitality, their power is not their own, though each is called upon to perform its own peculiar work, one to honour, another to dishonour. But let us suppose a member amputated, and an artificial hand, or arm, or leg, of the most costly and delicate workmanship, placed in its stead. It may, perhaps, be able to perform the outward functions of life; but is it alive-is it part of the body-does the blood circulate through it does it feel, does it sympathize with the other members? if they are vile, is the artificial member vile also? Thus we observe the difference between separate vitality and the vitality of a member; we see also the difference between life itself, and the appearance of life, the clock-work performance of the functions of life. These thoughts lead us to understand the scriptural truth of union with Christ. The Believer is united with Christ, not merely saved through Christ, he is joined to Christ spiritually, as a member is bodily united to the head, as a branch is united to the tree. The life of the Believer is Christ's, the spirit of the Believer is Christ's, the strength of the Believer is Christ's. The spiritual blessings of the Gospel are not given to the Believer as man gives a gift to his friend, in which from that time he has no more property, but which has received a new ownership. But they are received evermore from Christ by a perpetual flow, as the blood in the veins, or the sap in the tree, and while communicated to the Believer, are still the property of his spiritual head. How often we find these truths brought to a practical bearing in life how often ministerial disappointments may be explained through them, and those appearances of spiritual life and feeling, which at times raise the hopes, and cheer the expectations of the well-wisher to the immortal soul, and which after a time fade away, all are to be accounted for on this principle. What spiritual person is there who has not at times watched the sick-bed of a friend, and sought to administer spiritual advice while supporting the weakened body? Is not the following, only an example of a class of cases, indeed but too numerous, and one which will readily be perceived to be a true, though painful story : A person, occasionally a hearer of the Gospel, was seized with a severe illness, to which he was constitutionally liable; his anxious family sent for the clergyman of the place, who soon was seated by his bed side, and a most touching scene it was. The sick man was racked with severe pain, the drops of perspiration stood on his forehead, his eye was sunk, his voice weakened, his whole appearance indicated extreme suffering. Soon, however, it appeared that there was a deeper pain than that of his body, for he began to speak of the anxiety of his soul. Language, expressing deep conviction of sin, fell from his lips-some particular sins he referred to, Sabbath-breaking especially, through he had not been a Sabbathbreaker to a greater extent than the generality of careless people, but that which did not hurt his conscience in health pressed heavily on it in the hour of sickness. He spoke of carelessness and neglects with an appearance of deep feeling, listened with the most earnest attention while the way of salvation, through the bloodshedding of Jesus, was set before him. At the time it seemed as though he drank in the truths thus spoken to him, and expressed his intention, honestly meant at the time, to change his course of life, if God restored him to health. This did not appear the trusting to a future reformation, but the result of the conviction that his former life had been unsuitable to his present desires and state. The same earnestness continued during his recovery, and when warned of the danger of a return to his former careless ways, he constantly expressed a hope that it would not be so with him. It pleased God to restore him to health again, and for a time he was seen in his pew at church, an attentive and serious listener. By degrees the seriousness and depth of feeling decayed, he found hindrances to his attendance in the house of God, and in about a month's time, after his restoration to health, he became, and still continues, a cold, careless, negligent unbeliever. Upon the principle of spiritual life being drawn from Christ by union with him, the above story is easily explained. There was no union with Christ, therefore no real life; and when the circumstances which awakened the natural feelings had passed by, those natural feelings, being unsupported by spiritual life, soon subsided. Have we not often noticed a willow tree, or an elm, cut down in the winter, and laid by the road side, as the warm sun in spring shines upon it, it puts forth young shoots and leaves, and thus gives an appearance of life, but after a time these shoots cease to grow, and eventually wither. Do we enquire the reason of this appearance of life? The influence of the hot sun causes the sap to flow for a time, but having no root, therefore no life, the growth cannot continue. Thus, under the influence of outward circumstances, sickness especially, the dead soul counterfeits the actions of life, but there being no union to the head of spiritual life, the motions resembling life, after a time are exhausted and cease. On the other hand, many a gracious instance is seen where conviction goes on to a decided and abiding change, bringing forth its fruit to God, where there is a union of the soul to Christ through faith One afternoon, a soldier made his appearance in the study of a minister-he was manifestly an intelligent man, and of that commanding presence which distinguishes the regiments of horseguards. "Well, my friend, what do you want?" was the minister's observation. "I wish to converse with you," was the answer. "Do you remember on the 1st of January, 18-, preaching on these words, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.' You described the house out of order, the heart unprepared for death, the thoughtless worldly life of an unbeliever; you pointed out the regular steady life of many who lived without God in the world. I have always lived outwardly a correct life. I never was punished; I always prided myself on being a gentleman, and I thought that was religion enough." "Don't you think so now ?" "No; I feel myself a wicked sinner." And it did indeed appear, from further conversation, that he was brought to feel the wickedness of his heart and life, and was really enquiring, What must I do to be saved?" He was enabled soon to understand the Gospel, and was brought to rest his soul on Jesus for salvation, to believe that his blood cleansed him from all sin. The officer immediately over him soon observed the change in him; the humility of his deportment was so remarkable, and he gave full evidence of a change of heart. This has continued. And to what is F this to be ascribed? the answer will be found in John xv. 5. "He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit;" he became, through believing in Jesus, a living branch of a living vine-the graft united to the tree-life begun-continued-enduringthrough union to the living head. These are familiar illustrations of a most important doctrine; important, because in this channel spiritual blessings are found-because in this channel the poor sinning harrassed believer is more than tolerated by his heavenly father-he is accepted-admired-glorious. Jesus, his Saviour, is in heaven-glorious in his personglorious in his finished work, he sits on the right hand of God, the object of God's admiration-of God's love. But in such a consideration and view of Jesus, should his people's share in him be overlooked? Does he not sit in heaven, on his Mediatorial throne to represent them ? Does his Father love him the head alone, or every member of his mystical body? Do we love our children's head alone, or them altogether, from head to foot? Thus is Jesus in heaven accepted of his Father-his people accepted in him, Eph. i. 7. He is in heaven complete in his own glorious righteousness-they complete in him, Col. ii. 10. He is in heaven, beloved of his Fatherthey, loved as he is, John xvii. 23. In truth, they are by this union so identified with him, that the scriptures say, "as he is, so are they in this world." This is the life, this the acceptance of the Believer; and thus is that contradiction reconciled in him, " I am black, but comely, still sinning, still led away from God," but from his union with Christ, still an object of God's love. Himself, and all he does for God, polluted-but himself, and all he dces, accepted and approved of in Christ. Thus, all that the Believer is, or does, reflects glory on Christ, for all his power-all his strength comes from him continually; and as the life which he lives in the flesh, he lives by the faith of the Son of God; all is from Christ, and all turns to the glory and praise of him, who loved him, and gave himself for him. BEACON. What if it should be true? This question was forced upon my consideration in perusing the following passage in Lock's Essay on the Human Understanding, and which I submit for insertion in the Beacon, for the benefit of those who may not otherwise have read the article.-It is to be found in the 2 Book, Chap. 21. Sec. 70. E. "Preference of Vice to Virtue a manifest wrong Judgment." I shall not now enlarge any further on the wrong judgments, and neglect of what is in their power, whereby men mislead themselves. This would make a volume, and is not my business. But whatever false notions, or shameful neglect of what is in their power, may put men out of their way to happiness, and distract them, as we see into so different courses of life; this yet is certain, that morality, established upon its true foundation, cannot but determine the choice in any one, that will but consider. And he that will not be so far a rational creature, as to reflect seriously upon infinite happiness and misery, must needs condemn himself, as not making that use of his understanding he should. The rewards and punishment of another life, which the Almighty has established, as the enforcement of his law, are of weight to determine the choice, against whatever pleasure or pain this life can shew; when the eternal state is considered but in its bare possibility, which no body can make any doubt of, he that will allow requisite and endless happi ness to be but the possible consequence of a good life here, and the contrary state, the possible reward of a bad one, must own himself to judge very much amiss, if he does not conclude, that a virtuous life with the certain expectation of everlasting bliss, which may come, is to be prefered to a vicious one, with the fear of that dreadful state of misery, which 'tis very possible may overtake the guilty; or at best the terrible uncertain hope of annihilation. This is evidently so, though the virtuous life here had nothing but pain, and the vicious continual pleasure; which yet is, for the most part, quite otherwise, and wicked men have not much the odds to brag of, even in their present possession; nay, all things rightly considered, have, I think, even the worst part here. "But when infinite happiness is put in one scale, against infinite misery in the other; if the worst that comes to the pious man if he mistakes, be the best that the wicked can attain to, if he be in the right; who can without madness run the venture? Who in his wits would choose to come within a possibility of infinite misery, which if he miss, there is yet nothing to be got by that hazard. Whereas on the other side, the sober man ventures nothing against infinite happiness to be got, if his expectation come to pass. If the good man be in the right, he is eternally happy; if he mistakes, he is not miserable, he feels nothing. On the other side, if the wicked be in the right, he is not happy; if he mistakes, he is infinitely miserable. Must it not be a most manifest wrong judgment, that does not presently see, to which side, in this case, the preference is to be given? I have foreborn to mention any thing of the certainty, or probability of a future state, designing here to shew the wrong judgment, that any one must allow he makes upon his own principles, laid how he pleases, who prefers the short pleasures of a vicious life upon any consideration, whilst be knows, and cannot but be certain, that a future life is at least possible." "A man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."-Isa. xxxii. 2. When on the howling wintry blast O where her anchor may she cast, Thick murky tempests hurling ;- The sun's fierce might is glaring; A blessed shade descending! His strength even we are bold in ; Y. |