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Father. In the Christian a different feeling prevails. A deep abhorrence of sin mingles with his regret for it. His are tears of hatred as well as grief. He knows that the Holy Spirit is pledged to the assistance of the devout worshipper-that he can renew the heart-that he can dry up with his holy fire the fountain of our 'crimes or cherish by his presence the slow growth of a new nature, of our infant resolutions and desires. Low on his bended knees he anxiously seeks this new nature; nor does he love to rise till he feels the present God-till he can go forth fortified with heavenly strength, and "clothed in the whole armour of God.”—Here, also, I must be permitted to ask, is this your own state of mind? I ask not merely what is your regret for your past misconduct, but what are your daily advances in religion? What sins do you put away? How far are you diligently seeking the grace of your God, who is able to perceive that you are daily putting off your old nature, and putting on a new and heavenly nature? No man, who is in earnest about heaven, ought to feel satisfied with being that to-day which he was a month before.

Here I close my observations on the substantial distinction between a 'real Christian and every other character. I think you will agree with me, that it is strongly marked-that the distinction which is to be a broad gulf in eternity, which is to be measured out and defined for ever by the vast interval between heaven and hell, is something more than a mere line or shadowy difference here.

There is but a single observation which I should wish to offer in conclusion. If we carefully observe the several points of distinction which I have noticed, we shall find that they imply in the two classes of charac

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sin-that of the other doe of the one is not gratifi that of the other is: the for sin, is anxious for pard Christ, and desirous of by the influences of t Spirit-the other is not these differences imply state of mind, of heart, o In other words, the one renewed and sanctified other has not: the one i born again, or convertedis not the one is in a sta or natural corruption-t not. Need I say, thenever of these classes w what is our obvious and duty? Need I tell you our wants can be suppli are without religion, we tire change of heart. we still need more and n supply of the Spirit of G sustain us at our presen to carry us higher. Let selves, then, upon God. persuaded that the evil is eradicated, nor the good tained or increased, by me or reforms of the outwar Let us seek a new and m fied nature; more and m influences of the Sacred the fable of old, when the made the figure of a mai not animate it without st from heaven. That heav offered to us. quickened, who passes and sins. ment the bones of the sa where dispersed or loos dust, shall be collected, and formed, and animated Let us call upon God, th begin the work on our breathe upon the inanim bers of our fallen natur these dead bones live;

Many has

were dea At the d

us with his own sacred image Let us not be content to grovel here, when we may rise to the excellences and privileges of angels. Let us not live for this world when a merciful Saviour is calling us to the

Let us say

happiness of heaven. rather, "I have been guilty and wretched long enough. O God have mercy upon me! Let me live the life of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

MISCELLANEOUS.

To the Editor of the Christian Observer,

It is impossible that a single individual among the readers of the Christian Observer can be indifferent to any information connected with the subject of the African Slave Trade. The pages of your publication have, from time to time, been devoted to a faithful register of every important document which may tend to expose in its true colours this unprincipled and cruel traffic. I shall, therefore, make no apology for transmitting the following interesting extract, from one of the works of that enlightened philosopher M. Humboldt, which has recently been translated into Eng. lish.

G. C. G.

"If the situation of our house at Cumana was highly favourable for the observation of the stars and meteorological phænomena, it obliged us to be sometimes the witnesses of afflicting scenes in the day. A part of the great square is surrounded with arcades, above which is one of those long wooden galleries which are common in warm countries. This was the place where slaves, brought from the coast of Africa, were sold. Of all the European governments, Denmark was the first, and for a long time the only power, that abolished the trade: notwithstanding which, the first Negroes we saw exposed for sale had been landed from a Danish slave ship. What are the duties of humanity, national honour, or the laws of his country, to a man stimulated by the speculations of sordid interest ?

"The slaves exposed to sale were young men from fifteen to twenty years of age. Every morning cocoanut oil was distributed among them with which they rubbed their bodies to give their skin a black polish. The persons who came to purchase examined the teeth of these slaves, to judge of their age and health; forcing open their mouths as we do those of horses in a market. This degrading custom dates from Africa, as is proved by the faithful picture, which, in one of his dramatic pieces,* Cervantes, released from his long captivity among the Moors, has drawn of the sale of the Christian slaves at Algiers. It is distressing to think that, even at this day, there exists European colonists in the West Indies who mark their slaves with a hot iron, to know them again if they escape. This is the treatment bestowed on those, who save other men the trouble of sowing, tilling, and reaping, in order to live.t

El Trato de Argel Forn. II. (Viarge al Parnasso, 1784, p. 316.)

La Bruyere, Caractères, chap. xi. (ed. 1765, p. 300.)—I wish to cite at length a passage in which the love of the human species is drawn with force, or rather with noble severity. "We find, under the torrid zone, certain wild animals, male and female, scattered through the country, black, livid, and all over scorched by the sun, bent to the earth which they dig and turn up with invincible perseverance. They and, when they stand up on their feet, they have something like an articulate voice; exhibit a human face, and IN FACT THESE

CREATURES ARE MEN!"

on us, the more we congratulated ourselves on living among a people, and on a continent, where this sight is rare, and where the number of slaves is in general inconsiderable. The number in 1800 did not exceed 6000 in the two provinces of Cumana and Barcelona, when at the same period the whole population was estimated at 110,000 inhabitants. The trade in African slaves, which the Spanish laws have never favoured, is almost nothing on coasts where the trade in American slaves was carried on in the sixteenth century with a desolating activity. Macarapan, anciently called Amacarapana, Cumana, Araya, and particularly New Cadiz, built on the islet of Cubagua,, might then be considered as commercial establishments to facilitate the trade. Girolamo Benzoni of Milan, who at the age of twenty-two years had gone over to Terra Firma, took part in some expeditions made in 1542 to the coasts of Bordones, Cariaco, and Paria, to carry off the unfortunate natives. He relates with simplicity, and often with a sensibility not common in the historians of that time, the examples of cruelty of which he was a witness. He saw the slaves dragged to New Cadiz, to be marked on the forehead and on the arms, and to pay the quint to the offi. cers of the crown. From this port the Indians were sent to the island of Hayti, or St. Domingo, after having often changed masters, not by way of sale, but because the soldiers played for them at dice."*-HUMBOLDT's Personal Narrative, Vol. ii. pp. 245-248.

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ment cannot be hoped forbecause an attempt to co varieties of opinion cann without even greater dan rity than is incurred by lea as they are. So that wherever men differ, one almost necessarily be wr wise rule of conduct to to allow of these discrepa immaterial points. And, it is our bounden duty no this or any difference of to impair our mutual cha fection. But, then, is th point at which this licen should cease? Let us li language of Scripture:believeth on the Son hath life he that believeth no shall not see life, but th God abideth on him." instance, a difference of evidently of the highest in And there may be many cases. I have thought, that it might not be an uni employment to many of yo to endeavour to ascertain the points in which conc opinion is essential, and a Cover some of the cau which discordance of opi important points ordinarily shall be sincerely happy observations upon these t in the paper I send you n in the smallest degree to a an inquiry.

N

What, then, are the points unity of opinion is essential In the first place, men m

in receiving the great truths of religion. For su declaration of the Bible the necessity of repenta instance, it says " Exce pent, ye must all likewise

Upon conversion by th Spirit" Except ye are and become as little chil cannot enter into the kin God." Upon the necessity

ness-" Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Upon faith in Christ" He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." As to all these great truths, therefore-as to the necessity of repentance, of conversion by the Spirit of God, of holiness, of faith in Christ-taking these words in their scriptural meaning, men must "be of one mind." For, not to admit these truths, is to relinquish our hopes of heaven.-Here, therefore, is a point at which all latitudinarianism, all indifference, all, falsely so called, liberality, all cold and careless license of opinion must cease. Where opinions stand upon the authority of man, it may be lawful to differ-but not where God is the instructer, and where the things taught are of the first importance, and are distinctly revealed, An error as to faith, to conversion, to repentance or holiness, generally speaking, is a crime; because God must be supposed to teach a truth of vital importance in such a manner as that all responsible creatures may receive it. Again

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men ought to be agreed as to the necessity of possessing those tempers and dispositions which arise out of the fundamental principles of religion. "If any man," say the Scriptures, "have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." "The carnal mind is enmity against God." "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace." "To be carnal ly minded is death; to be spiritually minded is life and peace." And there would obviously be no difficulty in multiplying quotations to prove that there are certain dispositions by which every true servant of God will be marked as to which they will all be agreed-as to which all must lament their deficiencies, and for which all must labour and pray.

-Here, again, therefore, no difference of opinion can be allowed. It is not a matter of doubt whether we should or should not be spiritually minded, meek, mild, affectionate, zealous, benevolent, devout. We must not content ourselves, as to these points, with saying, "Such is his opinion and such is mine." We must here be of one mind-of the same mind with the great Author of truth-with the God of our salvation.

Again, we must be agreed as to the general course of practice which flows from the principles of the Gospel-The practice of a Christian, though not minutely, is yet strongly and decisively delineated in Scripture. All the great lines are broadly laid down:-- Finally, my brethren," says St. Paul to the Philippians, "whatsoever things are true, what soever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report-if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.". Thus also St. Peter

"Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another-love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous— not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing."-In this case, then, we must also be agreed. Having determined from the Bible what sin is, we must have no difference of opinion on the duty of avoiding and hating it. There is no difference of sentiment on such points in heaven, and none must be allowed here. Upon whatever subordinate topics Christians may unhappily differ, they must unite in settled, deadly. persevering hate to all that is called sin in the Bible. Candour must not be stretched to applaud or to tolerate vice. All must feel themselves solemnly pledged, as they value God and salvation, to resist in themselves, or to check, by every allowed method, in others, the growth and prevalence of sinwhether in the throne, or in the cot

tage-in our homes or in our country-in whatever spot of creation crimes may be perpetrated, God may be offended, or souls be lost.

Such, then, I venture to think is a not inaccurate, however imperfect statement of the points in which all men, at least within the pale of Christianity, must be of one mind. Harmony as to all points is indeed most desirable-is a pleasure, a privilege, and a duty—but as to these points, error is criminal, and differ ence of opinion is, as to one at least of the differing parties, full of danger.

But such being the case, is it not a melancholy fact that so much and such wide difference of opinion should prevail in the world; a difference extending to the most important points. Your readers will excuse me, if I now proceed to point out, what I conceive to be, some of the causes of this discordance.

of discordant opinions. The diligent and the careless are likely to come to opposite conclusions. For God opens the eyes of the one, and closes those of the other. He turns the bright side of the pillar to one, and the dark to the other.

A second cause of difference of opinion is I conceive vanity or presumption. It is the will of God, not that his creatures should discover truth by the light of their own reason, but by the Bible, and by the light poured by his Spirit upon the mind of the diligent inquirer. If a man therefore be negligent of prayer and of the Scriptures, it is next to impossible that he should either know the truth, or agree with those who do.

And yet how few persons

read the Scriptures and pray with the diligence which becomes them! We find in conversing with multitudes upon the most important subjects, that they set up some different The first I will name is careles- rule and standard from the word of ness.-Truths may be strong, may God that they follow the custom be plain, may be infinitely impor. of the world, or some of those orditant; and yet, through canelesness nary maxims which suit their own and indifference, men may fail to convenience. We find that prayer receive or apprehend them. And is either entirely neglected or careI need scarcely say how common lessly performed that the moments such negligence is in the most im. of retirement and communion with portant concerns. Men who honest- God are rare indeed-that business ly and eagerly give their minds to or self-indulgence are suffered to other pursuits are yet careless of occupy the time which should be the things of God. They too often dedicated to God. How then can slumber over these--or take them for it be expected that such persons granted when they should "search should become acquainted with the for them as for hid treasure." It is truth-how can they be expected to worthy of observation, that the whole agree with the diligent and devout of the instructions of our blessed student. Let us suppose one of the Saviour are so constructed as to de- "wise men" (no longer wise) when mand and to reward the pious dili. it pleased God to light up a star to gence of the student. "Without a guide them to the infant Saviour, parable," it is said, "spake he not had resolved to discover him by the unto them." He taught them, that mere powers of vision, or by the disis, only by those figures which the coveries of philosophy. These would careless were likely to mistake, and never have conducted him to the the diligent and humble were almost stable and the manger. And, theresure to apprehend. If, then, we are fore, whilst his brethren would have wanting in a serious desire and en- discovered the Lord, he must have deavour to understand the truth, it failed in the object of his pursuit. is not to be wondered at that we are. And thus shall it be with all those

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