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of the Gospel to be the most illustrious manifestation of Him who is at once inflexibly just, immaculately holy, and inconceivably kind. They taunt us with the doctrine of the Divine influence as implying that man is unequal to his duties and destiny, as interfering with his moral freedom, and tending to unnerve all his energies. But we reply that man's moral impotency is a fact that lies within the range of observation and experience, that Divine influences no more necessarily interfere with his moral freedom than other external influences, and that the doctrine, scripturally understood, instead of unnerving, rouses and quickens the energies with which man has been endowed. And not only do the doctrines of redemption, abstractedly considered, falsify the charge under consideration; but the fact is undeniable, that persons in every age who have yielded themselves up to the influence of these doctrines have generally been the best and happiest of men. The tree is known by its fruits. In rebutting the charge of gloominess, then, we appeal to palpable testimony.. The power and character of principles are especially manifested in circumstances of fierce opposition and severe trial. In such circumstances were the early Christians placed, men who were of one heart and of one soul in reference to the doctrines of redemption, and to them we appeal for evidence of their power to elevate man above his depraved condition, and to assimilate him to the holiness and happiness of heaven. They gladly received the word-the word about the person and work of Him who had suffered and died the Just One in

the room of the unjust,-they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart; they departed from the councils, whither they had been summoned, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ; in the prisons into which they had been cast, they prayed at midnight and sung praises to the God of heaven; and, of the generality of primitive believers, Peter could say, when speaking of their Lord, "whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." Paul was no dreaming visionary, no weak enthusiast, but a man of towering intellect and acute powers of reasoning, and yet who ever grasped these doctrines more firmly, and what a well of joy sprung up within him under their influence. "I would to God," said he to king Agrippa, "that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds."

There have been, and may be, many melancholy Christians; but, passing over the fact that all the melancholy in the world is not to be found within the pale of the church, it requires little philosophy to perceive that that melancholy is no part of their Christianity. It may be resolved into a natural gloomy temperament, into weak faith, into partial views of divine truth, or into a want of devotedness in the life, but the Scripture says, and the cross says, 'it is not in me.' Solemnity is not to be confounded with gloom; seriousness and joy are quite compatible.

Hume, sporting on his death-bed, was liker a fool than a philosopher. The world in which we dwell is fitted to make men grave and thoughtful. But, it may be unhesitatingly affirmed, that the believers in the atonement are not less sensible to the grand and beautiful in nature, and not less capable of appropriating to themselves the good that is to be found in the world, than any other class of men. Yea, we go beyond this, in asserting that the truth as it is in Jesus is better fitted than any other to expand every intellectual power and to purify and strengthen every moral feeling, and that in the view of the mind in whom it dwells, creation is the more radiant and lovely, and God, even our own God, "sits enthroned on the riches of the universe." The recorded experience of Jonathan Edwards has, in some degree, been the experience of many, who, being originally endowed with susceptibilities to receive impressions from external nature, have had the eyes of their understanding enlightened at the foot of the cross. But we appeal specially to it as an illustration of a mind, second to none in acuteness and vigor, holding with a strong faith the doctrines of redemption in what some men count all their repulsiveness, and yet sunning himself as it were, amid the light and beauty of God's world. "The appearance of everything," says he, in speaking of the influence produced on his mind by the clearer views which he had obtained of the work of Christ, "the appearance of everything was altered; there seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet cast, or appearance of divine glory,

in almost everything. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity, and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon, and stars, in the clouds, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, and trees; in the water and all nature; which used greatly to fix my mind. I often used to sit and view the moon for a long time, and in the day spent much time in viewing the clouds and sky, to behold the sweet glory of God in these things; in the meantime singing forth, with a low voice, my contemplations of the Creator and Redeemer."

"He looks abroad into the varied field

Of nature, and, though poor perhaps, compared
With those whose mansions glitter in his sight,
Calls the delightful scenery all his own.
His are the mountains, and the valleys his,
And the resplendent rivers. His to enjoy
With a propriety that none can feel,
But who, with filial confidence inspired,
Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye,
And smiling say-' My Father made them all!'"

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A diluted kind of scepticism-Not necessarily implying open hostility to the generally-received body of truth-A weakened sense of responsibility, or an actual denial of it, lies at the bottom of indifferentism-Indifferentism on the Continent-Remarks of Dr. Krummacher-Continental Churches-Characterizes much of Our own literature-Man's responsibility for his dispositions, opinions, and conduct, maintained:-A matter of ConsciousnessRests on the fact of man's free agency-Measured by ability and privilege Remains indestructible amid all objections from original temperament and external influences Phrenology Case of Alexander the Sixth-Men individually, and societies in general, advance morally, in proportion as the sense of responsibility is high.

In this case, no hostile attitude to the generally-received body of truth may be taken. The doctrines respecting the Divine existence, personality, providential government, and the Bible redemption, may theoretically be admitted, but there is a want of stern fidelity to these doctrines. The truth is not, like a fortress, stoutly assailed and bravely defended. But it happens, either that those who are without pass by and turn toward it a look of indifference; or that some

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