we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.'

"Let

Religion makes men fanatics or enthusiasts." In your patience, possess ye your souls." "We glory in you in the Churches of God, for your patience.' your moderation be known unto all men." "Let every thing be done decently and in order." "The fruit of the Spirit is temperance." "I am not mad, most noble Felix; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness."

And sometimes it produces Stoicism." Be tender hearted." "Weep with them that weep." "And all the widows stood by him, weeping, and showing the coats and garments, which Dorcas made while she was with them." "And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, and there they mourned with a very great and very sore lamentation; and King David himself followed the bier." "And the king was much moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept; and as he wept thus, he said, O my son, Absalom! my son, my son, Absalom! would God, I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son !" "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." "And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him." "Jesus wept!"

But see what selfishness, divisions and strife, there are among Christians !—“Give to him that asketh of thee." "Be of the same mind one toward another." ""And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common." "With one mind and one mouth glorify God." "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace." "Stand fast in one spirit.' "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. Love as brethren." "We do not war after the flesh." "The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them."

Look at their sectarianism.—" Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." "Let there be no strife, for we are brethren." "See that ye fall not out

by the way." "Let us do good unto all men. "Honour all men.' ." "If ye love them, who love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same ?" "Jesus said, Forbid him not (though he followeth not with us), for he that is not against us is on our side.'

ye

But there are pride, injustice and tyranny, among professed Christians." Why call Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I command." "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." "Be clothed with humility." "Serving the Lord with all humility of mind." "Doth the Almighty pervert justice?"That which is altogether just shalt thou follow." "A just weight and balance are the Lord's." "And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbour, or buyest aught of thy neighbour's hand, ye shall not oppress one another." "Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal." "For the oppression of the poor now will I arise, saith the Lord; I will set him in safety."

Their motives also, in their pretended zeal for the spread of religion, will not, we think, bear close scrutiny.—“This is the thing, which the Lord hath commanded, saying, Take ye from among you an offering unto the Lord; whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it." "Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." "All the money that cometh into man's heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it." "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver." Charge them that are rich in the world, that they be willing to communicate." "If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted, according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not." "Who art thou, that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest; for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself."

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We have heard of a father torn from his family, and cast into a dungeon, because he resisted those demands, which we are told are necessary to support Christianity. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken

hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." "I, the Lord, will give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prisonhouse." "The Lord looseth the prisoners." "Undo the heavy burdens; let the oppressed go free; break every yoke; deal thy bread to the hungry; bring the poor to thy house; when thou seest the naked, cover him." "He shall break in pieces the oppressor."

We have seen the poor man's scanty furniture exposed under the auctioneer's hammer, to furnish a trifle to nourish its pride-"Thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother." "The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor." "He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker." "He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, shall surely come to want." "What mean ye, that ye beat My people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord God of hosts." "Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes." "Forasmuch, therefore, as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat; ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them."

We have heard of a widowed mother, standing in motionless terror over the corpse of her only son who had fallen a sacrifice to the sanguinary hand of what is called the Christian Church.—“Ye shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.” “Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the fatherless, nor take the widow's raiment to pledge." "When thou hast forgot a sheaf in the field, thou shalt not go again to fetch it; it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for the widow." "A Father of the fatherless, and a Judge of the widow is God in His holy habitation." "Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and oppress not the widow and the fatherless." "I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against those that oppress the widow and the fatherless." "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." "Now when He came nigh to the city" (Nain), "behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and when the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. And He came and touched the bier; and He said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And He delivered him to his mother."

And we ourselves have been compelled, on pain of prosecution, to give part of our wages, which ought to have supported our families, to perpetuate the existence of religion-"Every man, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, nor of necessity; for the Lord loveth a cheerful giver." "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy.” "I the Lord love judgment. I hate robbery for burntoffering."

The above is a correct summary of objections, which the writer has often heard brought against religion. And as his object is simply to help to redeem the character of the Gospel from those unjust aspersions, he hopes this paper may fall into the hands of some one who will, if previously prejudiced against the truth, be induced to examine more narrowly the Word of God for himself. And now we exclaim, How different is the genius of our holy religion from the spirit complained of! Is there any thing in the Bible to warrant those charges being brought against it? Is Christianity melancholy, burdensome, cold, ungenerous, or repulsive? Does it tend to engender fanaticism or enthusiasm? or is there any thing in it to produce stoicism? Is the spirit of Christianity selfish, wrathful, or warlike? Does it encourage sectarianism or bigotry? Are pride, injustice, or tyranny, concom mitants of the religion of Jesus? Does it wink at hypocrisy by neglecting motives? Does it approve of imprisonment, or command oppression, or enjoin cruelty, or institute robbery? No! Scepticism itself must answer, No! Heaven, earth, and hell, angels, men, and demons echo, No! The spirit of Christianity

is joyful, generous, attractive, upright, lovely, peaceable, humble, just, sympathetic! The main spring of all its Divine movements is that "love which suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not; vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, and never faileth.” Are we asked, then, why the name Christian is inscribed on systems, which legally act so palpably at variance to the fundamental principles on which Christianity is based? We answer, "the love of money is the root of all evil, which while men have coveted, they have erred from the faith." This is the simple fact of the matter-the key explaining the apparent anomaly. If Mammon has been set up in the temple of God, it is impossible he can be worshipped on the principles God has revealed as the directory of His own worshippers. The genius of Christianity cannot admit a rival spirit into the hallowed sanctuary of its own solemnities. Hence Antichrist, who first attempted to amalgamate the service of God and mammon, produced a monster under whose hideous hoof the land groaned; and it is painful to confess, that the impressions of that hoof have not yet been obliterated from the soil of nominal Christendom. We advocate principles, which will outlive all conventional arrangements; and, strong in their own divinity, will preserve those who receive them, and destroy those who reject them, preferring in their stead the "weak and beggarly elements" of a carnalizing expediency. Oh! let the universal Church think! We have all need to recur to first principles. For if moral injury is perpetrated under sanction of that name, which" is as ointment poured forth," is it any wonder that the truth of Jesus is slow in its progress? As Christians ought to be living expositions of the spirit of their Master, so Churches ought to be embodiments of the principles and illustrations of the genius of Christianity. And we would say to the incredulous and the doubting, Be not carried away by appearances; act like men; judge for yourselves; try the spirits; "search the Scriptures." It is not fair to condemn Christianity unheard; and if you notice evils in the visible Church, which no one will be fool enough to deny, try to ascertain, by having recourse "to the law and to the testimony," whether those evils are the offspring of human depravity or the fruit of religious principle. And above all, recollect, that the evils of systems, however great, or the errors of Christians, however flagrant, will form no palliation for your unbelief; because to you also the Word of God is accessible, and the pages of inspiration are within your reach; and to some of the positive sources of joy those pages contain, our next essay will be devoted.

THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

Extracted from Notes of Lectures delivered in the University of Edinburgh, BY THE REV. THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D.

IN Jewish phraseology, "three days" meant the whole day, and part of the prior and subsequent ones. It must have been in Galilee, that Christ showed Himself to five hundred disciples at once; and not in Jerusalem, where the whole number of disciples was only about one hundred and twenty. It is false logic, on the part of the defenders of Christianity, to put the positive evidence of the resurrection in abeyance, till they have discussed the probable reason, why Christ did not show Himself to all the people. We should stand on the good positive ground that we have, and entrench ourselves there. Our proper business is to inquire, not what God might have done, but what He has done. At the same time I think it might be shown, that no one demand that the infidel makes would, if realised, have placed the evidence in a better state. The resurrection of Christ shares in all the evidence applicable to the other miracles; but it has also some evidence peculiar to itself; such as the natural condition of friends and enemies before and after it

Then with the ingress of the Saviour into heaven, stands connected the egress of the Holy Spirit, conferring extraordinary gifts on the apostles. This effusion furnishes a stronger proof of the resurrection, than the preceding proof; inasmuch as the testimony of God is stronger than that of man.

It is important to remark the doctrinal importance of certain historical events. It was the death of Christ-" His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem," which formed the subject of converse with His celestial visitants. This death, the chief suffering of our Saviour, is among those high mysterious events, which "angels desire to look into;" not as a naked event, but as charged with principle; as instinct, with the character of God, and as involving a deep and interesting question of jurisprudence. This gives significance to the deep agony of the garden; to the Saviour's standing appalled at His approaching dissolution; to the darkness, the earthquake, and the rising of the dead from their graves; and to those mysterious words "It is finished." The doctrines, just like the evidences of Christianity, are thus embodied in facts. It is the same when we pass on to the resurrection of Christ. He is said to have been raised by the power of the Father; thereby testifying His satisfaction with the propitiation made for the sins of the world; and opening, with His own hand, the prison door. This represents the perfect sufficiency of the atonement. Your pulpit demonstrations will be greatly more effective, if you thus follow Scripture; not conɓuing yourselves to setting forth the articles of faith, but showing them as embodied in the successive steps of a real history. When the Saviour rose to His Father's right hand, we are not only told of His office as an Intercessor and Mediator, but, connecting it with the egress of the Spirit on earth, we have the whole economy of salvation set forth in a series of acts, each connected with the preceding; and thus proving, in the whole peculiar way, that sanctification must be preceded by justification, and that no one can be saved, without being regenerated. This will enable you to refute the meagre opinion which some have entertained, that the effusion of the Holy Spirit was confined to the first ages of Christianity. "Unto you and your children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call;" thus connecting all countries, and all ages. Doctrinal facts are not to be overlooked; and by embodying abstract truths in a history, they are rendered more impressive, not only to the popular, but (I would add,) also to the philosophic mind."

BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.

THE Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England and Wales has made up his report to June 1840; and from it we extract the following particulars.

It is calculated, that in fact the population increases to the extent of 230,000 annually.

The returns show a progressive decrease of mortality in the metropolis every year, and a progressive increase in the manufacturing districts, except in the towns of Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, The deaths of children under one year of age (constituting a fourth part of the whole mortality,) are also most numerous in the manufacturing districts. The deaths at advanced ages are most numerous in the west and extreme north of England, and least in the manufacturing towns and mining districts.

In marriages, there has been an increase during the year of 3,246, as compared with the preceding. Married under twenty-one: men 6,101; women, 17,909; or 5 per cent and 143 per cent, respectively, of the whole number married. The average age of the marriages was-Men 27, Women 25.

LECTURES ON THE RUIN OF SOULS,

THE MISERY OF A RUINED SOUL IN THIS WORLD.

REV. H. S. SEABORN.

CROWN STREET CHAPEL, SOHO; WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 7, 1841.

"But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest; whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."-Isaiah Ivii. 20, 21.

THE Course of Lectures, brethren, which is now coming to a close, has been of a most important and solemn character. We have been favoured with those men of God, who have treated them most ably and judiciously and I trust, the Divine Spirit, in answer to the prayers of those that have attended them, has made the subjects which have come under their notice eminently beneficial to the good of that particular class of persons, for whom they were specially intended.

The subject of the present Lecture is very solemn and very important. It must have reference, we fear, to very many present. It could be wished, that our congregations were indeed those that love Christ-that stand not in the position of the characters named in our subject to-night; and it is our privilege to believe, that on the Lord's day, in our various places of worship, to a great extent this is the case: but with regard to those that have come under the sound of the Gospel to-night, is it not to be feared, (I put it kindly, affectionately and solemnly to the conscience of each one now present)-is it not to be feared, that what is here denominated a ruined soul is the character of many present? I am aware, that the words sound awful— that they have something about them of a very fearful character; but we wish tonight, in the presence of God, as dying men to deal solemnly with dying men.

The words which we have selected, to form the basis of our discourse to-night, represent certain persons as in a very painful state of mind, as well as of a very painful character. And we propose, by the assistance of the Spirit, in the first place, briefly to describe the character supposed in our subject, and mentioned here; and secondly, to speak upon the misery of the character thus described.

I. In the first place, we are to describe the character here supposed. It is that of a ruined soul."

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I confess, the words are very startling, and require some explanation. What do we mean by them?

I apprehend, that the term "ruined" is not to be taken absolutely; but it means, that in all probability and in accordance with God's Word, if no change takes place in the individual until the hour of death, the inevitable result must be eternal ruin. I do not think, that we are warranted to look at a man, and say absolutely, 'That is a ruined character;' but we are warranted to look at the sinner, and say, ' He is ruined as far as he goes, and if he were to die this night nothing could prevent his ruin.' We are not to say what Divine grace can do, but what God has said He will do. He says, that "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." He says, that "there is no peace to the wicked." And I look at a wicked man, therefore, as standing in the place of a ruined soul—as being in fact the ruined soul here supposed.

We must, therefore, understand by "ruined souls" every one who, by overt acts of wickedness and continued perseverance in vice, as the blasphemer, the Sabbathbreaker, the intemperate, the unclean, the "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God"-or, secondly, those who, with their hearts still hard, their understandings darkened, their wills perverse, though with more outward morality, are either caring nothing about God, about their souls and eternal things, or who are considering that they are not worse than others and that God will either accept their outward devotions or be not strict to mark their offences-every one who by either of these ways manifests that he is still unconverted and gives no evidence of a change. All these characters are denominated by the term used in our text and in the subject of the Lecture. In a word, they are either outward sinners, or they are Pharisees, of whom Christ said, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven"—in some shape or other trusting to their own righteousness, or caring nothing about these things; men that have never undergone that radical change, called by the Saviour "being born again," and which all who are holy and happy must experience, as we see in the case of the converted Jews and all that are named in the Book of God: which change makes the difference between the ruined soul and the saved soul; which change is not the work of man, but the work of God; which change must be evidenced in the life. We can see a sinner, and we can see a believer. When Barnabas went to preach the Gospel, he "saw the grace of God;"

VOL. XIII.

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