ness of the Christian creed be compared with the meagerness of the Mahommedan, which is contained in seven Arabic words, affirming the absolute unity of God in opposition to the Christian Trinity, and the divine mission of Mohammed.

It is not, however, chiefly for the sake of the speculative information which they contain, that the doctrines of Christianity deserve regard, but rather for the practical influence which they exert in promoting true virtue, and their being the appointed means, in the economy of grace, of man's recovery to holiness.

That all true and acceptable goodness in man results from that system of truths appropriately denominated evangelical, as conveyed to the mind through the reading or preaching of the Word, or through the symbols and sacraments of religion, and as attended with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, is a truth so familiar in theological treatises, as hardly to need a formal proof. But as this is often regarded by ethical and philosophical writers as one of the arrogant assumptions of theology, we shall endeavour briefly to explain the connexion between the doctrines of the gospel and virtue, and so between theology and ethics.

That were certainly a superficial notion of virtue which should apprehend it merely in those outward actions which constitute its form-its ceremonial, rather than its essence. Indeed the progress of ethical science is marked by a more constant reference, in estimating the morality of actions, to the disposition from whence they spring. Now, if we would penetrate beyond the body of virtue, and reach its very soul, what more ultimate and central principle of virtue can even reason find, than that disinterested and comprehensive love, which revelation declares to be the fulfilling of the law?

But this love, without which virtue is an empty name, is not an affection belonging naturally to the human heart. In his natural state, the controlling principle of man is selfishness. By this principle alone, can we account for the inordinateness of the constitutional appetites, the alienation of the heart from God, and all those other dispositions, which are sometimes regarded as constituting the whole of human depravity. But where selfishness prevails, and the other dispositions which are its proper fruits, however specious and seemingly excellent may be the actions to which they prompt, there can be nothing truly acceptable in the sight of God. The recovery of man to holiness and the

divine favour must consist, then, in eradicating this root of sin, and in winning back the alienated heart to the love of God. How to accomplish this, was the great problem.

Although it might justly have been required, yet, from all that is known of the established laws of human feeling, it could not have been reasonably expected, that sinning man would of himself return to the love of a being, apprehended by him, through a disquieted conscience, as angry, inexorably just, and pledged to punish. In any scheme for man's recovery to holiness, it would seem then to be requisite, in order to its success, that there should be an antecedent revelation of the pardoning mercy and reconcileableness of God.

Such a revelation is Christianity. Based upon the fact that God, from love to the world, gave his Son to die for it, it exhibits him to our expiated race, as gracious and ready to forgive. It is in presenting this reconciled and benignant aspect of God, that the great moral efficacy of Christianity, as a scheme of spiritual redemption, consists. The atoning death of Christ does not more fully answer the conditions existing on the part of God, in order to our forgiveness, than it does the conditions existing in the human heart, in order to its self-surrender. Its bearing upon the principles of divine government is not more mighty, than its bearing upon the principles of human feeling and action. And Jesus Christ, who, in the relation of his vicarious death to the law, is our righteousness, is also, in the exhibition of his unexampled and self-sacrificing love, our sanctification.

The doctrine of the Atonement, expressive of the fact of Christ's expiatory death, and its associated doctrines, constitute what we mean by the Truth, or the evangelical system of faith. Through the belief of this, and the sanctification of the Spirit, the enmity of the heart is slain,-its enslaving fears are allayed, the conscience is quieted,-hope inspired,-peace diffused, and conquest made of all the affections of the soul for God. In these affections, springing up in the soul under the sanctified exhibition of the Truth, man possesses a new principle, able to compete with his earthly passions, a divine life, prompting all his works, carrying into them vitality and consecration, and destined progressively to renovate his entire being. The actions proceeding from a heart thus made right with God, and warm with love and gratitude to him, are good works, in the scriptural

sense, this obedience is evangelical,-this service is acceptable unto God.

It is not difficult then, if we have right views of the doctrinal system of Christianity, and of the nature of true virtue, to trace the connexion between them, and the dependence of the latter upon the former. Were Christianity barely preceptive, as many conceive it to be, its connexion with true goodness would be, indeed, obscure and remote; since the imposition of an outward rule has no power to secure the affections, without whose concurrence there can be no acceptable goodness.-Equally unproductive of legitimate virtue would Christianity be, were it barely speculative, or designed to enlighten the mind of man respecting the perfections of God and our duty to him; since, in this disharmony of our being, the affections, by which the moral state must always be determined, may go counter to the clearest lights of reason and conscience. But thus to conceive of Christianity, is to misapprehend its peculiar nature and design. Rightly viewed, it is less a disclosure of the mind of God to the mind of man, than an overture from the heart of God to the heart of man.* It is not so much preceptive or speculative, as it is affective, addressed to the feelings of the heart, and designed to bring them, by a direct appeal, into accord with the rule of reason and conscience, or the will of God.

If now the doctrines of Christianity hold so conspicuous a place, and exert so important an influence in the economy of redemption, it is certainly right that they should be regarded with the most intense interest. Indifference to them, is indifference to the moral and religious welfare of man. Evangelical truth, with the attendant divine influences, supply that unknown remedy for human ills, which the ancient sage expected, in obscure presentiments, from the gods, after proving the inefficacy of the restraints of reason and of

*This remark we think true, when applied to Christianity as exhibited in the Holy Scriptures, not perhaps to Christianity as learned from books of systematic divinity. Even the doctrine of the Trinity, often treated in theological systems as if intended merely to disclose something about the mode of the divine existence, has nothing of this abstract and speculative cast in the inspired records of revelation. What is there said of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, is obviously designed to teach us, not so much their mysterious relation to each other, as their relation to us in the economy of redemption, for the sake of inspiring our minds with gratitude and love to God, and with confidence and joy in him, as our Redeemer and Sanctifier.

law, of the influences of philosophy and the arts. Human wisdom and benevolence have devised many expedients by which the malady of our nature has been mitigated, but none by which the seat of the evil has been reached. It was reserved for the divine wisdom and love to provide for a radical renovation of man; and this provision is the Gospel. And just in proportion as human philanthropy becomes enlightened as to the means of effecting its ends, will it pass by the feeble devices of a worldly charity, and lay hold upon the doctrines of the Gospel, as the surer instruments of a more comprehensive usefulness. In proportion as benevolent men enter into the counsel of God respecting our race, the business of doing good will become simplified in their view, and lie more and more in the one point, of bringing the doctrines of Christianity to bear most powerfully and extensively upon the human heart.

There have always been those, ever since Christianity was first published to the world, to whom the evangelical system of faith, as here described, has appeared to weaken the sense of moral obligation, and to be subversive of all virtue;-men of a pharasaical spirit, of philosophical pride, or of a merely moral interest. Of the latter and better class, Pelagius is the most distinguished representative. "He was," says Neander, "of a serious, conscientious cast of character. It was his object to arouse men from their moral stupidity, and to excite them to the fulfilment of the commands held up before them." But instead of making use of the doctrines of the Gospel,-the means divinely appointed for this end, he came out in opposition to the evangelical scheme, as endangering the cause of practical piety. “He knew no better way for promoting virtue, than to point out the falsity of the excuses drawn from the natural weakness and corruption of human nature,-to show what power for goodness lies in human nature itself;-how all evil flows only from the free-will of man ;-that he can never plead for his justification, that he is borne away by an irresistible power, but that it always depends equally upon himself to do either good or evil. His favourite theme, the one on which he spoke oftenest and most impressively, was, the moral powers with which human nature has been endued by the Creator. The great thing with Pelagius was sincere moral effort, a practical Christianity, exemplifying the ideal moral standard contained in the commands and counsels of Christ,

but not taken in connexion with the fundamental nature of the whole doctrine of the Gospel."*

How many are there, professing to believe the Gospel and to labour for it, by whom its most essential features are thus dimly seen! Of such persons it might be asked, whether their cold, preceptive, legal system, is not that very thing which the apostle Paul opposed, as incapable of giving spiritual life? Whether, in the conversion of men to God, it is not with the heart that the business lies ?-if conversion does not consist in gaining over the heart from its enmity, lifting it above the depression of slavish fear, and winning it back to friendship and fellowship with God? And if this be so, whether it seems to them, that the heart, so quick to recoil from every rude access, but so open to kindly influence, so obstinate in resistance to violence, but so yielding to tenderness, be more likely to be gained by legal claims and denunciations, than by the gracious overtures of the Gospel? Or, looking to facts, it might be inquired of them, where, and under what influences, the most deep, pure, and energetic piety has been found to exist? And if it has not ever been seen, that whatever temporary and apparent success may attend other methods, it is by means of evangelical doctrine alone, that the cause of true godliness is permanently advanced? Of such as are Christians in reality, as well as in name, it might be further inquired, to what they owe that improved condition in which they themselves are, whence sprung that love and gratitude by which their hearts are filled, and their lives are governed? "Received ye the Spirit by the deeds of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

Let us revert, now, for a moment to the objection before mentioned, against the interest manifested by some in the maintenance of the system of evangelical truth. It must be obvious that this interest can be regarded as at variance with that for practical religion, by those only who hold the Pelagian notion just described, and in whose views Christian doctrine is severed from its inherent connexion with vital godliness. No others certainly could deem it a matter of little concern what form of doctrine is believed and inculcated, or ever think that the cause of God may be carried forward by any other method of influence, than that which

*Neander's Allgemeine Geschichte der christ. Rel. und Kirche, Vol. ii. Pt. iii. Translated in Prof. Robinson's Bib. Rep.