AUGUST, 1850.

THE QUESTIONS OF THE PRESENT AGE,

CONSIDERED IN THEIR RELATION TO DIVINE TRUTH.

NO. IV. --THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD.

THE Christian is the physician of the soul-the healer of the nations. He is the reality of Retschr's beautiful allegory, where he represents Satan playing at chess with man: the man's soul the stake-an angel the spectator. Nay, his task is greater; for while he plays for other men's souls he has to guard his own. To be a skilful physician of the soul is no slight task. It is no easy thing to heal a soul where doubt has gradually petrified into unbelief to reduce the stony heart to its former sensitive element. It is no easy thing to build a spiritual temple for God, where perhaps a long career of passion has brought on that fearful torpor and exhaustion of the soul, in which hope dies and love departs—in which flesh whispers to the intellect, "Thy faith is vain-there is no God-there is annihilation before thee: eat, drink, and be filled, and then be resolved into the primitive elements of nature." For, alas! though the flesh and the spirit each appeal to the intellect together and by turns, the spirit speaks less to the intellect than does the flesh; for it derives its strength and life from faith, from hope, from love and when these lie in ruins, it is no slight task to collect the shattered fragments, and construct a temple where "The High and Lofty One, that inhabiteth eternity," may descend and dwell. And yet, my brother, such a task is thine. It is no easy thing to discern whether there is one sound spot left; or whether, by that awful law of man's spiritual nature, the disease has yet passed into that stage in which there is no hope, when the self-doomed souls "wonder and perish." It is no easy thing to heal a soul when its mental faculties have been so unused or misused, that they are at present incapable of comprehending the laws of evidence; or when the moral feelings have become so crooked and twisted that you are tempted to say, all effort is useless. Did you ever try to straighten a crooked pin, and find it difficult? What is it, then, to straighten a gnarled, crooked, living soul? And yet you have this to do, and having done it, to watch over it, and often to see it die when you fondly hoped that it would live for ever; and after all this to have a brave heart, and a more determined resolution by any means to save some. It is a task which requires a subtle and commanding mind, joined with what?—A heart full of love, as patient as that of God for his erring creatures-as yearning as that of the mother for her babe-as pitiful as that of the Great Mediator when he pleads for our frailties, having felt the same.

Do you see, now, why love is to be your heart's core ?-why there must be a gushing heart, as well as a full and comprehensive mind? It is that you cannot heal others, if either be absent. But more it is that great love with small knowledge may win souls-knowledge with small love cannot. THE PHYSICIAN. Priest, ruler, ambassador, soldier, teacher-all the most honorable offices of society, earthly or heavenly, rest on him, and their responsibilities too; and therefore is it that the Ruler of the World has given to him all their rewards : the white robe the jewelled ring – the palm branch the crown, bright as the everlasting stars fruit of the tree of life-and knowledge wide as eternity. Happy, thrice happy! is he whose spirit is so massive and yet so delicate, that he can sustain these burdens: for the treasure house of heaven will be ransacked

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to give him a reward, of which the ancient seer saw merely the shadow when he said, "They that be teachers shall shine as the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars of heaven for ever and ever." But the world has its atmosphere, as well as its diseases. Even if the body be healthy, it may be enfeebled and die from the effects of vitiated air. What the air is to man, the spirit of the age is to the church it is its moral atmosphere. Hence God has, by the appointment of rulers and teachers, instituted a "Sanitary Committee," (so to speak) which is to provide against all evil infection, and devise means for the extinction of its causes. The men of the age, and the spirit of the age, are both under the care of the Christian; and he has this advantage, that while every dose of medicine costs the human frame something--deprives it of some of its vigour, while it stops some process of decay—every healing principle he applies to the spirit of the age is not only productive of positive good, and proportionably extinguishes evil, but gives greater vigour to "the things which remain." The people who feel that they are wounded, and naked, and miserable, will seek a cure; and if the Christian will not give them the receipt, what will become of them? They will become the dupes of every humanity-monger, every political charlatan, every intellectual harlequin, who Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven, As make the angels weep."

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But you may say you can do nothing for these individuals ; but " a good physician," says Paul Richter, saves us from a bad one, if he does nothing else." The Christian is indeed in an enviable position: his work never fails. The most profound statesman, though he may carry a measure of the highest interest and value, knows well that he must accept some evil along with it. His maxim is, "We must accept a portion of evil, in order to obtain a greater good." And so the worm is at the heart of the tree as it is planted. Can we wonder that it soon decays? It is this alloy of good and evil which so constantly defeats the plans of the sanguine--which brings the most stately kingdom to the dust, and causes man to know that his laws, his arts, and his policy decay like himself. It was the perception of this truth which caused the wisest of the wise, as he looked back on the long line of ages, to say so mournfully, "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under the sun." And it was a perception of this truth and of the remedy, which caused Rousseau (so profoundly versed in the morbid anatomy of the human heart) to declare, "That a man may not corrupt himself for the benefit of his race." It was the perception of this sad truth and its remedy which caused Paul, from his wide knowledge of the moral constitution of man and society, to pronounce the anathema against those who, with the statesman's spirit, said, "Let us do evil that good may come.' Christianity, older than time or human thought — the archetypal idea of the Divine Mind- the greatest proof of his love and wisdom-is, in the hands of the Christian, for the healing of the nations. And yet he is faint-hearted. Can it fail? No! Its strength is unbroken -its face is still awfully beautiful, for it reflects the majesty of His browit is still bright and lovely, for it reflects back His smile. Its course of beneficence is not yet done it still wends its way, unhurried and unwearied, like a circling star.

When Shakspeare, the most profound and liberal of human moralists, said "That man is a being of large discourse, looking before and after," he acutely described man's mental habits. In youth we look onwards to the

future-in manhood we look at the past and future, and the present years fly away like hours; but there are a few (and they are the wisest of their race) who look back upon the spirit of the Past, and analyse the spirit of the present age, that by a just adaptation of means to ends, and a strict analysis of the things that surround them, they may neither misapply nor waste a single energy; but, deeply versed in the laws of moral cause and effect, and judging it to be true infamy to die and not be missed, they strive to render the present the parent of a wise and better future. And this examination of the present time is not without its use to the Reformer, for it has some remarkable features. Not the least of these is the spiritual disorganization of the age. The principles which bind the moral universe together have been corrupted, or others substituted in their stead, and the consequence is, an approaching chaos. There is division in every sect. In every sect there is a complaint that zeal is dying-that their numbers are not increasing in proportion to the population-that the world gains more than the church. From a variety of causes which we shall analyse hereafter, men are thoroughly dissatisfied with prevailing systems. What more does the Reformer desire? His opponents are divided amongst themselves. He never can have a better chance than now. There never has been a time so favorable to the interests of pure religion. When the apostles began their career, they had no such chance as we have. The Roman Lawgiver had implanted in the people such a reverence for law, by giving the laws the sanction of religion, by mingling religious rites with political ceremonies, that any disobedience to the laws was accounted as irreligion; and still worse, an affront to religion was treason to the state. And yet the Christians did not insult Paganism; but the Roman Emperors thought with one wiser than them all, "He that is not for me is against me." They were thoroughly unsuccessful in their attempts to manage this anomalous sect: they made many efforts to bring it into a due relation with the state, for they had no idea of a religion being disjoined from the state. They knew its use and benefits too well for that. The church of Christ sought no alliance with the state, nor yet did it rebel against it. It was like the airfelt, but unseen. The Emperors, like Domitian, found it in their palaces and their own families, and for once the astute Roman ruler felt himself at fault. He saw this new element working in society, and resolved to watch it narrowly in its developments. In process of time they heard that these Nazarenes declared themselves to be the subjects of one Christus, who would come to rule with universal empire. Christianity was now become treason, and the Roman Emperors used the sword and axe unsparingly, even in their own families. The apostles, in effecting the overthrow of Paganism, felt their task to be so arduous and terrible, that though Paul did not fear death, he said, "I think that God hath sent forth us, the last apostles, as it were, appointed unto death; for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men." The truth was cradled in storms, and yet it prospered; and in a few generations, Tertullian, pleading on behalf of the church, could with a just pride ask, Where Christianity was not? and intimate that if further persecution were to drive these wise men mad, to cause them to forget their loyalty, then they would convulse the empire-it would echo with the march of the Christian legions, who would hew their way to the imperial throne. The truth had conquered. The Reformer of the present day is not tried like those apostles.

About thirteen centuries later, Luther stood forth as the Reformer; and though his task was easier than that of any of the apostles, he still had just

cause to fear. When he burnt the Papal bull in the market-place, he defied the spiritual ruler of the world. He did it with fear and trembling. He believed that he then signed his own death-warrant, and that he would be burnt at the stake; and when his friends, in after years, were conversing with him on his first efforts, he told them that he felt very frightened, but it was just the proper point of time somebody must do it God and truth commanded him to do it, and he did it. When he proclaimed his doctrines to the Emperor and Princes of the Germanic Empire, in presence of the Papal Legates, he replied to their threats and persuasions, "It is neither safe nor prudent for a man to act against his conscience: here I am—I cannot do otherwise: God help me, amen." His courage appears greater if we reflect upon the fact, that the church then ruled the state; and though a man might dissent from Romanism, and be a loyal and obedient subject, the church made the state the minister to execute vengeance on her rebellious children. And now, as the fruit of Luther's labors, we have liberty of opinion, and liberty of worship. The truth has again conquered. The Reformer of the present age has an easier task than Luther's. He does not need equal courage, though it would be quite as well to have as much as Luther (yet a half is quite sufficient); but he must have more intellect, and a more expanded knowledge of things spiritual and temporal. The mind of humanity has been expanded, and its knowledge much more extended. Many more questions have to be answered by the Reformer of the present age, than were ever asked by the people of the middle ages. He has to contend on behalf of the very elements of social polity, as well as for the foundation principles and evidences of religion. Never more than now was it requisite for the Reformer to be able to give a reason for the hope that is in him. He needs a learning of the most expansive and recondite character, together with exquisite skill in discerning the strength and the weakness, and probable results, of the fresh combinations that are opposed to him. But we shall now analyse the spirit of our own age, and show forth causes which have produced the present results in the religious portion of society. J. G. LEE.

(To be continued.)

THE CROSS BEFORE THE CROWN.

"THE Lord trieth the righteous." Trial and affliction have been the lot of mankind in every age of the world, but especially of the righteous. The way to the crown is by the cross. Every one who obtains the throne must put his foot upon the thorn. We must taste the gall if we are to enjoy the rest. Whom God justifies by faith, He leads into tribulation. Thus when God led Israel through the Red Sea, their path lay through the wilderness. So when God saves a sinner, it is through much tribulation he must enter the kingdom of glory. The way to the Heavenly Zion lies through the valley of Baca. The land of promise can only be reached through the wilderness of Jordan. Some believers are much surprised when they are called upon to suffer. They thought, once upon a time, that they would do some great thing for God; but all that God permits them to do is to suffer. If we could learn the histories of those who have arrived in glory, we should hear a different story, yet from each a tale of suffering. One, perhaps, was persecuted by his family, or by his friends and companions; another was visited with sore pains and humbling disease; a third was neglected by the world; and a fourth had all these afflictions together. Deep called unto deep.' Mark, all are brought out of this suffering. The cloud was dark, but it broke in light-the water was deep, but they reached the shore. Not one thinks hardly of God, for the road along which he led them. Salvation is their only cry. Are any believers murmuring at their lot who read this? Let them not sin against God. God leads all his redeemed ones through suffering. They must wave a palm as well as wear a white robe. No pain, no palm-no cross, no crown-no thorn, no throne-no gall, no glory. Let us learn, then, to glory in tribulation also. "I reckon," said Paul, "that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us."

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