4. There is reason to believe, in view of what has been said, that this earth is an object of intense interest to the inhabitants of other worlds. We know not that redemption has been accomplished in any world but this. Indeed, we have no reason to suppose, that such has been the fact. Why should it have been? Christ could add nothing to the glory or the moral effect of his sacrifice, were he to repeat it a thousand times. It seems necessary only that the story of redemption should be told in other worlds-that the wonders of mercy which have been accomplished here should be unfolded; and when this is done, the heart of the Deity is at once opened, and his glory beams forth upon other intelligences, as it does upon ourselves. And that this mighty subject has been unfolded to the view of myriads now invisible to us, and that, i. consequence of this, their eyes are all turned, and their interests bended downwards upon earth, there can be no doubt.

This earth is physically but an insignificant part of the material universe; a little island in an infinite ocean of space-a little province of an unbounded empire. And yet we know, that to the inhabitants of other worlds, it is a most interesting spot. I have sometimes thought of it, not indeed as the sun of the created universe, but rather as the. silver moon. It shines with a reflected light; but yet it is all radiant with the glory of God, and is pouring forth light upon a multitude of topics connected with the divine character and conduct, which otherwise must have remained in impenetrable darkness.

Redemption-whatever my readers may have been accustomed to think of it-redemption is the glory of earth. And it is glory enough for one world, to have been the theatre of such mighty achievements, and to be the centre of such engrossing interests. And Oh! why are not men more deeply interested in this great work of redemption ! When the inhabitants of other worlds are so deeply interested, why are the inhabitants of this, so profoundly indifferent! Men, and not angels, are the subjects of redeeming mercy. It was for men, and not angels, that the Son of God came down, and died. And yet, when angels are all intent, desiring to look into these things, men neglect them— men trifle with them-men, in thousands of instances, care nothing about them! Shame on such unaccountable stupidity and blindness! The conduct of the great mass of

our fellow men in this life, in treating the mighty subject of redemption as they do, must render them the shame, and I had almost said, the scorn, of the intelligent universe.

5. It follows from what has been said, that the redeemed church of Christ will be an object of great interest and happiness in heaven for ever. The members of this church will appear in heaven, as the travail of the Redeemer's soul, -as the trophies of his grace, and the purchase of his blood. They will appear there, as the special subjects of that stupendous work in which the moral universe is so deeply interested ;-as the medium through which the principalities and powers of heaven are becoming acquainted with God, and beholding his glory.

This church will also be an interesting object in heaven, on account of the peculiar character and relations of those who compose it. They will be seen to be a new order of worshippers, standing on a foundation, and cherishing feelings peculiar to themselves. They were once sinners, but they have been forgiven; lost, but they have been recovered; unclean and odious, but they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And they now sustain relations to the glorious Son of God more intimate and endearing than those of any other beings. They sing a song which none others in heaven can ever learn, and will have high and endless sources of enjoyment peculiar to themselves.

It is a great thing to be in heaven as an angel of light; but it will be a greater thing to appear there, as a member of Christ's renovated and ransomed flock. It is pleasant to angels to reflect that they have never sinned; but glorified saints will contemplate, with a sweeter sensation, the manner in which they have been redeemed from sin. It is pleasant to angels to behold the glories of the Son of God, and worship him as their Lord and Sovereign; but how much more pleasant to glorified saints, to rest upon him as their Saviour, and embrace him as their elder brother. It is pleasant to angels to look upon the ransomed church, and learn from it the wonders of redeeming love; but how much more delightful must it be to glorified saints to be themselves the subjects of this wondrous love-to feel its warming influence in their souls, and to pour forth their emotions of joy and gratitude in never-ceasing songs of praise.

My Christian reader, professed follower of Christ, are you expecting, ere long, to join this triumphant throng, and to be a partaker of this "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory?" How, then, does it become you to pass the time of your sojourning here? How should you tread this vain world beneath your feet, and rise above it in your affections and hopes, and be constantly aspiring, reaching after those nobler joys which God has in store for them that love him!

6. It appears from what has been said, that those of our race, who enjoy the offers of redeeming mercy, and slight them, and finally perish in their sins, will be among the most despicable and miserable of all the creatures of God. For it will be known through the universe what opportunities they have enjoyed, and what they have abused; what distinguished mercy has been shown them, and how they have slighted it; and of all the wretched inhabitants of the lower world, they will be regarded as least entitled to the sympathy and commiseration of their fellow beings. The degraded heathen will look far down upon them and say, 'If we had heard the same calls as you-if the privileges which you enjoyed had been bestowed upon us, long ago should we have repented in sackcloth and ashes.' And even the devils will stand aloof from these ruined despisers of Gospel grace, and reproach them with being more guilty and detestable than themselves. You have done that,' they will say, 'which we never did. We only transgressed the law of God; but you-fools that you were -you added to this a rejection of the Gospel. You slighted offers, and resisted means, and trod under foot the Son of God. Complain not, then, that your prisons are deeper than ours, and that you are doomed to sink under a severer condemnation.'

It is a dreadful thing to be a fallen angel, and to be reserved, as these angels are, in chains, under darkness, to the judgement of the great day. But it is a more dreadful thing to be a finally condemned and ruined sinner from under the Gospel. O yes, if I must go to the world of wo, let me be a demon of darkness-let me be any thing-rather than to stand in the miserable company of those who have beheld, and depised, and wondered, and perished, from under the glorious light and privileges of the Gospel. For such sinners must have reflections, tormenting reflections-they must have

sources of anguish, bitter anguish, which none other among the damned ever can have. They must be emphatically the reproach and the scorn of the universe.

Does the eye of any impenitent sinner fall upon this page, and run over these fearful, monitory words? O, let him beware, lest all the evil, and more than all that has here been described, fall speedily upon him! Let him be wise, and take warning while he may. The door of mercy is still open. The call of mercy is yet sounding in his ears. Let him yield then to the motives of the Gospel, and the strivings of the Spirit, and press into the kingdom of Christ, before the doors of this kingdom are closed upon him, and he is lost for ever.

ART. VII.-ON SPECIAL EFFORTS BY THE CHURCH TO SUBVERT THE UNHALLOWED INSTITUTIONS OF THE WORLD.

By ELEAZAR LORD, Esq. New-York.

THE tendency of the Christian religion, by the sanctification of individuals, and by the public influence of its doctrines and ordinances, to reform the errours and vices of the surrounding world, is universally admitted. Whether the correction of those evils, however, is to be regarded as a direct and immediate object of Christianity, in any such sense as to render it proper that the influence of religion and the associated and public exertions of ministers and Christians should be specially directed against them, in distinction from their exertions in the ordinary use of the means of grace, and the usual methods of propagating the Gospel for the conversion and salvation of men, is a question of great interest, the consideration of which will, it is presumed, be deemed appropriate at the present time.

From the nature of the subject, it will be proper, in the first place, briefly to refer to the state of things at the period when the Gospel was originally published, and to the example of our Lord and his apostles.

I. At that period, the political, religious and social institutions and customs of the world, were wholly opposite to

the design and spirit of the Gospel. Every thing in the condition of society, and in the moral and religious opinions and practices of the people, needed reformation. In Judea and the neighbouring countries, the universal corruption was restrained by military despotism. The light of true religion, even among the Jews, was nearly extinguished; they had rendered the commands of God of no effect by their traditions, and had sunk into a state of obstinate prejudice, blindness and hardness of heart; and throughout the Roman empire, and the rest of the world, the most atrocious wickedness prevailed, and was in many cases sanctioned by public authority.

Among the more prominent public evils which prevailed in the Gentile nations, it is obvious to notice, in particular, the system of pagan idolatry, with its impious and degrading rites; despotic forms of government; the system of slavery; the forms of public amusement, including gladiatorial spectacles, and bacchanalian orgies, and the customs of polygamy and of general licentiousness.

II. Such was the state of the world when the Son of God was manifested. By his example, preaching and vicarious death, and by the instrumentality of his inspired apostles, the system of Christianity, on which depended the reformation of men, and ultimately the entire subversion of Satan's kingdom, was founded and published.

In the view of human weakness and fanaticism, it would have been expected that this pure system, so totally opposed to all evil, would strike directly at those institutions and customs of society by which mankind were held in the bondage of corruption; that it would denounce and proscribe those customs in the abstract, and organize its followers against them, in a war of aggression and extermination. But Christianity is love, addressing itself to the moral feelings and voluntary affections of men; and such a course would have been every way inconsistent with its nature and design.

It was not the nature or purpose of Christianity, to force reformation upon men, or to authorize, on the part of its disciples, any such attack upon the public, organized and general customs of communities, or classes of mankind, as would naturally provoke their combined opposition, involve in one form or another the use of carnal weapons, and end in a violent conflict of the bad passions of both