ing his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sending his rain on the just and on the unjust." "There is but One Good," said the Son of Man; as if in the fullness of his adoration he could not allow this epithet to be applied to any inferior being, however pure. What higher name than Good can we conceive? In God centre all rays of moral glory. How does the word Holy suggest his unchanging rectitude, overflowing benignity, unbroken peace! God's justice and mercy, if we read the Gospel rightly, are only different aspects of one and the same moral perfection. How miserably deceptive are the quibbles of theologians, when compared with the simplicity of Jesus! We hear nothing in the Gospel of reconciling God's attributes, of allowing his mercy to act without compromising his justice, as if the one infinite mind was parcelled out into distinct faculties. All these sophisms are swept away, like mists before the sun, by the single name Father. God's justice is not that of a King demanding homage; his mercy not that of a lawgiver, who remits a penalty. The insults done to the divine majesty, through comparisons drawn from earthly greatness, are all forgotten by the heart which has been touched with the goodness of a Heavenly Author of our spirits, of a Heavenly Friend who created us, to become "partakers of his own holiness," of an ever watchful Guardian, seeking not to condemn but to save, of an Omniscient Preserver, who looks down upon his "creatures subjected to vanity, with the hope that they may be redeemed from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

There are two extremes of doctrine, often taught in Christian pulpits, which Unitarians avoid, by admitting the truth contained in each, and merging both in one grand idea. In the first place, we hear God's justice described under images derived from human passion, as if the unchangingly good could be disturbed into passion by the negligence or wilfulness of men. Revolting as all expressions, which in any way cloud the idea of serene blessedness in the Supreme Being, must be, they are still suggested by a truth. The soul recognises the inviolability, the inexorableness of the moral law. Unitarians admit as fully, indeed they often assert more strongly than Orthodox Christians, the utter impossibility of supposing that sin can be tolerated by Infinite Holiness. There is and can be no reconciliation between the Being whose nature is love, and selfishness. The transgressor of eternal and immutable Right places himself at once in warfare with the spirit, the laws, the providence and agency of God; and he must be

changed or exterminated. The justice of heaven cannot be broken. The truth contained then in this doctrine of our Orthodox brethren we fully admit, in fact we think, as hereafter we shall attempt to show, that we are more rigid and strict in asserting this truth than they. In the second place, we hear it said, "He who is all good could only have called creatures into being for their greatest good; all evil, therefore, must be temporary; the end will be well. It is not conceivable, that a good being should cause any creature to live whose existence would not, on the whole, be more productive of happiness than pain." Now the truth too contained in this. view of Optimism we admit. We feel assured, undoubtingly assured, that the purpose of God was one of pure disinterestedness. He created all beings for their good, not for his own good. He needeth nothing from us. Worlds upon worlds of pure and holy spirits could not increase his happiness, except through his sympathy with them. Hosts of subject intelligences could not heighten his glory, except as they manifest the fullness of the love which produced them. The design of the King of kings we know, in that sense in which "faith is knowledge," was the highest good of every creature. But on the other hand, we entirely reject the logic of both the one side and the other, when from God's justice or God's love, as assumed premises, conclusions are drawn as to the future acts of Him, "whose thoughts are not as our thoughts, and whose ways are not as our ways." Reverence and good sense alike forbid such folly. And again, we would wholly refrain from threatening the sinful with fiery indignation, or allaying their remorse with smooth speeches. Arbitrary harshness and the tameness of indiscriminate hope we would equally avoid. How easily are these two views blended and harmonised by those who at all comprehend the truth of a Heavenly Father. If we understand aright the teachings of the Gospel and of the Soul, God is in the highest sense which our minds can conceive, Moral. Benevolence unfailing, universal, everlasting, infinite, alone satisfies his Rectitude, which is at once his glory and his bliss. To communicate these he created free intelligences. He would heighten his eternal joy by surrounding himself with myriads and myriads of happy beings, participating in his perfections, and sympathising with them. In love he made individual spirits; he bound them to each other socially, that love like his own, might be quickened in them. His law of action toward all beings is love, even in his exactest retributions; the law with which he inspires all beings is love, even when conscience speaks in sternest tones;

the law by which he governs each and all is love, even when wrongs private, social or national, are followed by wide-spread ruin. For the greatest unkindness would be to permit the breach of the eternal laws which are the life of souls. But

how can we express in simple language this simplest though sublimest of all thoughts, that by the inalienable nature of spirits, love is the only source of peace? From the sublime name, Father, beam forth these ideas of the happiness of goodness, as rays from the moral sun.

But it may now be asked, what is there peculiar in this view? Do not all believe in a Heavenly Father? Yes! at least in words, and probably, if they knew their own hearts, in thought and feeling too. All Christians, we presume, agree with Unitarians, so far as they go, in this doctrine, and this confirms our first remark, that there is a far deeper sympathy than is usually admitted between all believers, in their essential faith. All Christians, we suppose, do admit the various truths above-mentioned,that we have a revelation of the Father, through Jesus Christ-first, in his original mode of speaking of him-secondly, in his peculiar union with him— thirdly, in the beauty and purity of his devout affectionsfourthly, in the sublime perfection of his moral nature—and all agree too in adoring this Father as the Holy One, whose nature is love, manifested equally and unitedly in justice and in mercy. Thus far is there union. The difference between Unitarians and Orthodox Christians is precisely here, unless we are mistaken. We hold to the purely moral view of the Father; while they superadd to this many metaphysical opinions. We consider the revelation of the Gospel to be addressed to the conscience and the heart; they quite as much to the intellect. We believe that God's moral perfections, his character and relations, are alone spoken of by Jesus; they that his essential nature and modes of being, his rank and offices are also made known. In a word, our faith, we think, is simpler, purer, sublimer, more affecting. It is less speculative and more spiritual, less theoretical and more religious, less philosophic and more practical. This we say with candour; and we feel our privilege in having been brought nearer to primitive Christianity, to be great. We trust the clouds of scholastic errors, which have so long eclipsed the benignant brightness of divine love, will be more and more withdrawn from our own and all hearts. Could we but be penetrated to our inmost souls with a sense of God's goodness, how should we be raised from present degredation. Loved by Our Father, we should learn to value aright our own spirits, and to VOL. VIII.-8

respect the worth of our brethren. Heaven grant! that all Christians, of all denominations, may receive more and more of "the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father."

W. H. C.

THE WORLD OF LIGHT.

BY HENRY VAUGHAN.

They are all gone into a world of light,
And I alone sit lingering here!
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thought doth clear.

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
Like stars upon some gloomy grove,

Or those faint beams, in which the hill is dressed,
After the sun's remove.

I see them walking in an air of glory,
Whose light doth trample on my days,
My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,
Mere glimmerings and decays.

O holy hope, and high humility,
High as the heavens above!

These are your walks, and ye have shewed them me,
To kindle my cold love.

Dear beauteous death! the jewel of the just!

Shining nowhere but in the dark!

What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust!

Could man outlook that mark!

He that hath found some fledged bird's nest may know,
At first sight, if the bird be flown;

But what fair field or grove he sings in now,
That is to him unknown.

And yet as angels, in some brighter dreams,
Call to the soul, when man doth sleep;

So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes,
And into glory peep!

ELEVATION OF THE LABOURING PORTION OF

THE COMMUNITY.

BY W. E. CHANNING.

Elevation of soul, in what does this consist? Without aiming at philosophical exactness, I shall convey a sufficiently precise idea of it, by saying that it consists, first, in Force of Thought exerted for the acquisition of Truth, secondly, in Force of Pure and Generous Feeling, thirdly, in Force of Moral Purpose. Each of these topics needs a lecture for its developement. I must confine myself to the first; from which, however, you may learn in a measure my views of the other two. Before entering on this topic, let me offer one preliminary remark. To every man who would rise in dignity as a man, be he rich or poor, ignorant or instructed, there is one essential condition, one effort, one purpose, without which not a step can be taken. He must resolutely purpose and labour to free himself from whatever he knows to be wrong in his motives and life. He who habitually allows himself in any known crime or wrong doing, effectually bars his progress towards a higher intellectual and moral life. On this point every man should deal honestly with himself. If he will not listen to his conscience, rebuking him for violations of plain duty, let him not dream of self-elevation. The foundation is wanting. He will build, if at all, in sand.

I now proceed to my main subject. I have said that the elevation of a man is to be sought, or rather consists, first, in Force of Thought exerted for the acquisition of truth; and to this I ask your serious attention. Thought, Thought, is the fundamental distinction of mind, and the great work of life. All that a man does outwardly is but the expression and completion of his inward thought. To work effectually, he must think clearly. To act nobly, he must think nobly. Intellectual force is a principal element of the soul's life, and should be proposed by every man as a principal end of his being.It is common to distinguish between the intellect and the conscience, between the power of thought and virtue, or holiness, and to say that virtuous action is worth more than strong thinking. But we mutilate our nature by thus drawing lines between actions or energies of the soul, which are intimately,