martyrs was the seed of the church; new converts rose up in all directions; and in three centuries the Gospel, in despite of all opposition, produced such a change in the views and characters of men, that the Roman empire became professedly Christian. There are good reasons for believing that political considerations were quite as much concerned in the conversion of Constantine, as religious conviction. He saw that the Christians, if they were not a majority in the empire, were sufficiently numerous to support his throne; and that, beyond all comparison, they were the most trustworthy of his subjects.

Here, then, is the triumph of the Gospel. Without human patronage and power, without any weapons but such as are spiritual, with no recommendation but its own inherent truth and goodness, the Gospel laid prostrate in the dust, never more to rise, the whole system of Greek and Roman mythology, and made the very gods which Socrates, and Plato, and Cicero had worshipped, the scorn and laughter of children. To Christianity and Heathenism we may apply what Deborah said of Jael and Sisera: "At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell : where he bowed, there he fell down dead." (Judges v. 27.)

And let us never forget that the power of the Gospel is not at all impaired by the lapse of ages. Its power is the power of God, which can suffer no decay; and as it was a means of abolishing the ancient idolatry, though defended by the Roman sword, so surely as the Gospel spreads shall every existing form of superstition and error share the same fate. The corruptions of Papal Rome are scarcely less pernicious than those of her elder sister, to which we have just adverted. If she have not brought in "another God," she has set up a goddess as an object of religious homage. No man can read her manuals of devotion, attend her religious assemblies, or travel through a country where she has full sway, without perceiving that the Virgin Mary is the favourite deity of the people. If Papal Rome have not denied the mediation of Christ, she has introduced a thousand other mediators to share with him the attention and confidence of mankind. If she have not discarded the atonement of his sacrifice, she assumes that it is imperfect, and affects to supply its deficiencies by her own profane and worthless masses. These fearful errors and abuses, like the abominable idolatries of pagan Rome, although long upheld by penal statutes and bloody persecutions, shall fade away before the pure light of evangelical truth. Even now the Monarch of the great antichristian confederacy, with the triple crown upon his head, shrieks in agony as the written word of God advances. What are the Bulls against Bible Societies, which so frequently issue from the Vatican, but signals of distress, and acknowledgments of conscious weakness? Infidelity the Pope and his Cardinals can bear, for the Papal states are inundated with it; but the word of the living God they cannot endure. The reason is obvious. That word is a "fire that tries every man's work of what sort it is," burning up "the wood, hay, and stubble" of merely human traditions. In vain are ships of war sent forth, to break up evangelical Missions, and force Papal error upon defenceless people by the point of the bayonet, and by volleys of musketry and cannon. In vain do feeble and short-sighted Statesmen bow and cringe before the hierarchy of mystic Babylon, endeavouring to conciliate her by their bribes. They may protract the period of her

a

fall, but they cannot avert it; "for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her." He has already provided the means of her overthrow. They are simply the Bible, and the ministry of the Gospel. Let these be applied in the spirit of prayer, of holy love, of faith in God, in the renunciation of all confidence in an arm of flesh, and the triumphant cry of the mighty angel will infallibly follow: "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen! No form of error can withstand the power of the Gospel.

3. The subject which has now been placed before us shows us something of that heavenly dignity and glory with which Christianity invests the characters of men. Look at man, considered in himself; a creature of a day, born to labour, to suffer, and to die. His inmost nature is depraved, his conscience polluted by guilt; he holds every earthly enjoyment by an uncertain tenure; and "when a few years are come, he shall go the way whence he shall not return." Verily every man is vanity, even at his best estate. But look at man under the influence of Christianity, and admire the change. Contemplate Paul the tent-maker at Cæsar's bar. He pleads the cause of Christ with a calmness, a power, and a wisdom which no Greek or Roman orator could ever attain by study and education. The fact is, "the Lord stands with him." The heathen Judges and spectators, indeed, see Him not; but His presence is not the less real on that account. The Apostle feels Him near, and is sustained by the power divine. Follow the Apostle to his prison, where he probably sits down ill clad, hungry, and friendless. Shivering in his dungeon, he remembers the cloak that he had formerly left at Troas with Carpus, and requests Timothy to bring with him that necessary article of clothing. (2 Tim. iv. 13.)* Yet his happiness is rich and solid; for he is saved from sin, and preserved from every evil work:" hence the tranquillity of his conscience, and his cheerful trust in God. But he expects soon to die, and that by the hand of the public executioner. Yet even this is matter of joy, rather than of regret; for death, under whatever form it may come, will infallibly introduce him into the heavenly kingdom of Christ, where there is laid up for him a crown of righteousness, more brilliant than that which Cæsar ever wore; and a throne which will stand when all earthly rule, authority, and power are no more.

It is true that St. Paul was an Apostle, and therefore his case may in some respects be regarded as peculiar; yet the humblest believer in the Lord Jesus is invested with a glory which is substantially the same. He is personally justified through the sacrifice of Christ, and made a partaker of the divine nature by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. In all the duties and trials of life, "the Lord stands with him, and strengthens him," keeping him "from every evil work," enabling him to bear even the unkindness of friends with meekness and charity. When stretched upon the bed of mortal sickness, the Lord still stands by his suffering servants; and when the conflicts of life are ended, and the material universe shall be dissolved, the Lord will vouchsafe to

* "We were ourselves, last year, in Rome, at the commencement of November, on a rainy day; and with what vivid reality, under the influence of the evening cold, could we imagine the Apostle Paul down in the deep dungeons of the Capitol, dictating the last of his letters, regretting the absence of his cloak, and begging Timothy to bring it before the winter!" (Gausen's Theopneustia, p. 249.)

every one of them an abundant entrance into his heavenly kingdom. This is true dignity! this is the highest glory of man!

"The CHRISTIAN, he alone is WISE;

The CHRISTIAN, he alone is GREAT!"

Believers in Christ, bear these facts in your adoring remembrance! Never forget that, in all your duties and trials, the Lord is standing with you. Be strong, then, in the grace that is in him. With the great Apostle, take encouragement from every renewed manifestation of your Saviour's presence and love, to trust in him for future good, being mainly anxious to be kept "from every evil work :" so shall you be authorized to look for his mercy unto eternal life, till you are actually seated upon the throne of his glory.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES.

No. II. THE THEOLOGICO-LITERARY STATE OF THE
COUNTRY.

(To the Editor of the Wesleyan-Methodist Magazine.)

THE condition of parties in the literary-theological world is, at the present time, singularly momentous, inasmuch as it is not merely much diversified, but powerfully excited. The different schools of theology, and ecclesiastical bodies, are seen putting forth their several opinions with the utmost industry and zeal. This is interesting, not merely as a developement of the sentiments of the age, but also as laying a foundation for a state and order of things which must influence the destinies of generations yet unborn.

If the publications of the day are simply taken as the exponents of the opinions and ideas of the time in which we live, the fact may be viewed as profoundly important. But what are we to think of this developement itself? It is difficult to form an opinion otherwise than that the world is in a transition-state, and in extreme doubt and uncertainty as to first principles. From the confusion and chaos observable in the contradictory and clashing teaching of our theologians, one would imagine that Christianity was destitute of a common standard; that, in fact, it consisted of nothing but crude and ill-digested opinions, to be experimented upon as accident or chance may happen to dictate. The writers of the day have abandoned the practice of individual authorship, and are taking, or rather have already taken, their position in distinct classes; and not only support and propagate their own views, but fiercely denounce those who differ from them. This polemical warfare is certainly waged with great ability, learning, and earnestness on every side; and if ardour and zeal alone were indicative of a love of truth, our auguries would be of the most delightful nature. But we are obliged painfully to feel that the zeal in question is, in innumerable cases, not only misdirected, inasmuch as it is mistaken and erring,--but it is purely mischievous, because expended in the propagation of doctrines which are fundamentally fraught with error. Mental activity and greatness of mind are objects to admire when employed in the cause of

truth, but odious and abhorrent, when seen devoted to the support of falsehood, and the deception of mankind.

Though an attentive perusal of the leading publications of the day will convince any impartial observer, that many unfledged minds are at work on subjects infinitely transcending their capacity and attainments; yet, as a whole, there have appeared on the field of battle many strong intellects, richly fraught with various learning, and endowed with great acumen of logical skill, as well as an extended grasp of thought; much philosophy; large general views; deep research into the hidden agencies of moral influence, as distinct from the Holy Spirit's work; the idea of a splendid combination of the hierarchical principle; and, withal,-intermixed, it is true, with much puerile dogmatism,-great and splendid notions of the destinies of the church, as in contrast with those of the world. Would that we could hail all this with unmixed approval! This, however, is far from being the case. We, indeed, admire mind and knowledge, as such. But when both are engaged in something worse than doubtful speculations, we cannot but deplore the fact, and feel that the strength and activity employed, instead of being a subject for congratulation, must be felt a matter for painful regret.

Many considerations in connexion with this subject arrest our attention; but we must resume them when we have more fully stated the case as it presses on our thoughts.

One of the peculiar labours to which these parties have devoted themselves is, the republication, in a regular series, of the "fathers" of the respective theories now mooted in firm and deadly controversy. Time, and the changes produced by the progress of society and religion, had smoothed down much of the sharp and rugged sentiment introduced in the heat of party struggle. The world at large, certainly, had no occasion, on the whole, for regret, that much of the learned lore of past times lay in forgotten obscurity. If the parties in question had put themselves to the task of collecting the golden ore to be found everywhere in these masses; of bringing into harmony and system the fine moral and religious sentiments and opinions intermixed with the combustible material of controversy; of improving our spirit of devotion, whether of praise or of prayer; of presenting to the world a real catholicity of doctrine and faith, by expunging all merely sectarian opinion and party theology, and exhibiting a luminous body of unquestionable and practical truth; and, moreover, from all these stores, and the balance of system with system, had undertaken the task of presenting to the world a larger and broader basis for the agreement of Christians, and the communion of the church; then we might have hailed their services as most valuable and hopeful. But to throw these works upon the theatre of the world, charged with all the fire and force of their original fierceness of party spirit and ultra doctrines, must be like the discharge of an hostile artillery amongst the inhabitants of a peaceful city.

In thus referring to these authors, we are doing them no injury. Particular times and seasons may make controversial, and, to a certain extent, as against an opponent, ex parte divinity necessary. But to constitute this sort of theology the foundation of a great moral demonstration, and to attempt to build an advanced state of the church upon it, we cannot but think to be a glaring mistake. The necessities of the times did not demand a more sectarian foundation, but a more catholic one; not a narrower inclosure for the flock of Christ, but a wider ; not a spirit of fiercer contention, but of increased 3 x

VOL. I.-FOURTH SERIES.

brotherly love. We are deeply impressed with the pernicious nature of attempts to humanize the truth of God; to limit to a sect, or to place, or a set of ecclesiastical canons, the church and kingdom of God. This must be done when partial and sectional notions are entertained, and those very notions themselves are made the basis of a religious system both of doctrine and church polity. Labouring in their vocation with a zeal and industry worthy of a much better cause, we find many of these partisans of extreme opinions fixing their undivided attention on first one and then another truth, separating it from its series, jostling it out of its position, ringing changes upon it incessantly, as if there were nothing else in the world but this single dogma, placing it in an isolated state of nakedness and exposure, and then making this one truth—which, by the time they have done with it, is no truth at all, but a partial fallacy—the foundation of a theory, and an instrument for moving the world. If this sort of thing were witnessed in any other department of knowledge than that of religion, it would excite universal astonishment, not to say contempt.

Christianity is not one but many truths; as nature is constituted of many elements. What would be thought of the philosopher who, in teaching a theory of life for men dwelling on this earth, should exclude from his system of physics all the agencies and provisions of the universe but just one or two favourite ones? Suppose him to teach his disciples, that the colour constituting beauty is that of black, blue, red, or any other which might most strike his fancy; and not the combination of many, as in the rainbow, or the glowing and variegated hues of the setting sun: that the only safe mode of enjoying the invigorating influence of the atmosphere is to breathe the air of some pent up locality, made tight, snug, and comfortable by massive walls and closed windows, to the total exclusion of the warm sunshine, and the soft or bracing breezes of heaven: or that, in order to gain a true and accurate perception of the system of nature, and the wonderful wisdom of God in his works, they should gaze at the luminaries of day, but never look on those of the night; should busy themselves in examining the wonders of earth, but never think of those of the ocean; should apply all their means for the investigation of matter in all its useful or fantastic conformations, but never expend a passing reflection on the subject of spirit; in fine, that it would be most wise to group in their scheme of existing things as much of visible phenomena as possible, but it would be folly to expend a moment's reflection on the invisible God, who is "all and in all." Who does not see the folly of such pretended knowledge and philosophy as this? The universe is only beautiful, and, indeed, safe and useful, as a whole. The lights of the heavens and the agencies of earth mutually embrace, and constitute man's home, his happiness, his life. In like manner the ordinances of general society can only work a safe and happy result by their unity, harmony, and entireness. The conservation of property, the punishment of crime, fiscal regulations, the protection and guidance of commercial industry, the security of personal rights, and the freedom and immunities of citizenship, the powers and prerogatives of the throne, the functions of the legislative bodies; in fine, the existence and operations of the entire and perfected constitution; are essential to the completeness of our civilization. God, in his providence, has made man dependent on man. Mutual confidence, sympathy, affection, the protection of the weak by the strong, the succour of the poor by the rich, and the repression of the vicious by the virtuous; are all plain and obvious principles and duties. In both general society and the government of God, one truth stands by the side of other