manifest his gratitude to the Almighty Father for his temporal blessings, the gift of life, the preservation and care which have been exercised over it; the rational faculties with which he has been endowed, the moral affections by which he is distinguished, lengthened days and unceasing mercies? How best shall he evince his pious thankfulness to the Source of Light and Love for his moral and spiritual blessings, the priceless riches of Christ, the world of purity and bliss, which, through the Gospel, and the power of the resurrection, have been revealed to his hopes? Must it not be by the humble imitation of the Creator's beneficence, by earnest, zealous co-operation with the Infinite One, in his all-wise plans for the education, freedom, and happiness of his large family? Is it not God's will and pleasure that men shall be brought from "darkness to light;" and how can this design be effected but by the supplanting of ignorance by knowledge? Is it not the Amighty's purpose that man should be emancipated "from the power of evil," and be brought to the glad obedience "of the living God;" and how can this be accomplished but by seeking out the downtrodden and the outcast, the sinful and the poverty-stricken, and bidding them stand up in the strength of virtue and of their Maker, for they also are men? Is it not the will of heaven that "all men should be saved, and brought to a knowledge of His truth?" And how can the way of salvation be announced, and the truth of God be spread abroad, unless error be exposed, and truth unceasingly proclaimed, and the character of the Father of mercies be vindicated and delineated in all its peerless excellence, and "many run to and fro that knowledge be increased?" And what is the knowledge that all should prize, which all should treasure as the richest heritage of rejoicing? A practical Christian can best answer the question in the prayer of Jesus, "Father! this is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent." Life-giving knowledge, the knowledge which cheers and hallows the pilgrimage of existence, which fills and crowns eternity, is the knowledge of the Oneness of God; that God is our Father; and that Jesus of Nazareth is the

Christ, the anointed of the Holy One, with the kindred principles which spring from and circle round these divinely revealed and divinely attested truths. The dissemination of this knowledge, its practical improvement and illustration, its applicability and moral bearing on every relation in which man stands connected with his brother-man, in his individual, domestic, and social relations, is a religious duty which no disciple of Christ can neglect and be true to his own soul, to the great family of which he is a member, to the Saviour, who has enlightened and blessed him with the truth, or to God, the origin and end of all knowledge, purity, and bliss.

By the good providence of Almighty God, the Christian Unitarian is placed in the forefront of the struggle with the powers of evil. Let him not be recreant to the post assigned him. The privileges with which he has been honoured confer on him correspondent obligations. Let him show himself worthy of these privileges, by his fidelity in the performance of the duties which they entail upon him. He professes to be the friend of serious, free, scriptural inquiry;-let him practise as well as advocate the inalienable right. He avows allegiance to one only Master and Teacher in religion, Jesus Christ, the righteous;-let him preach Christ on all occasions, and at all times, fearlessly and faithfully. He believes in, he worships," in spirit and in truth," the One only God" the Father;"-let him spread the truth he loves, and reverently practise himself, and strive to bring others also, to the Christian worship whereby he holds communion with the Universal Parent. He knows and feels that God is love ;— unceasingly let the hallowed truth be proclaimed, that dread may vanish, that despotism be no more upon the earth. He acknowledges and rejoices in the Christian revelation, that all men are brethren ;-let him act in the spirit of human brotherhood; and that as no one liveth to himself," as "freely ye have received, freely give," are the principles of Christ, let him labour in the spirit of the divine impulse which they impart to the practical believer, and rejoice to "spend and be spent" for the good of the world.

In Great Britain and Ireland the Christian Unitarian has to contend with the assumptions of traditionary authority, and self-named," evangelical," fanatical presumption; with high church pretension, and pharisaical intolerance;-with fashionable profession, and ignorant devoteeism ;-with coarse and reckless infidelity, and blinded superstition ;-with formalists and sceptics; with worshippers of the powers which be, and those who will "tell or hear" only of some 66 new thing;"-with narrow-minded bigotry, and undisguised atheism ;-with insinuators of doubts and difficulties in private, who in public abet the " spiritual wickedness in high places ;"-as well as with the multitudinous social wrongs to which this tampering with conscience, this religious hypocrisy, this reaction against sacerdotal oppression, this Mammon and other idol worship, this ignorance, and pride, and lust of power, have given birth. In these circumstances, what is the duty of the Christian Unitarian? It will not do for any one individual to judge the world by the snug coterie he has drawn around himself, and to imagine that these facts have no existence, and that nothing remains for him to do, but to preach moral essays, unbased on Christian principles; or to spiritualize the hour in phraseology to which the hearer can attach no definite ideas. It will not do for him to slink away into his closet, and shut out living realities, that he may dream on the world's progression, whilst he does nothing to realize the bright imagination. It will not do for him, with " bated breath," and humble tone, to beg to be allowed to hold in peace and quietness his own opinions, and to offer apologetic explanations of his faith in Christ. It will not do for him to ape the modes, and employ the verbiage, to which others attach such different conceptions, in order to neutralise hostility, and curry favour. He must preach Christ and Christianity; he must found moral actions on Gospel principles, or else he will be a workman who needs to be ashamed, inasmuch as he attempts to erect the superstructure before he has laid the base; he must, like his great Master, be always "about his Father's business," pourtraying the character, government, purposes, dispensations, and will of

God; unfolding the offices, work, and spirit of Christ; delineating the matchless purity, and beauty, and truthfulness, and devotion, and benevolence of Jesus; deepening the love of God and Christ, and man in the human soul; making Christian morality, as deduced by Christ, from the cardinal principles of God's oneness and benevolence, the supreme rule of action to individuals and families, rulers, and nations; pointing out their bearing on every subject of human interest, and every question of social politics; and thus, in vindication of the true, the beautiful, and the good, the free, the holy, the philantropic, the sanctifying; in exposing the false, the hateful, the pernicious, the slavish, the vicious, the malignant, the hypocritical, strive to make of earth a present heaven, by redeeming his fellow-creatures from falsehood and sin, saving his own soul, and heralding the kingdom of righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The particular methods by which, in every locality, these blessed ends are best to be accomplished, must be left to the matured judgment and the earnest Christian devotedness of individual professors. Warmth of heart, earnestness of purpose, devotedness to human good, are first of all essential; for where these are not, effort cannot be expected. But where these do happily exist, and in all their glorious vitality and power, there the efficient means will soon present themselves. Faith in God and Christ, faith in man, that he will eschew evil and love the good, if the bane and antidote be honestly, clearly and faithfully placed before him, are the mainsprings of Christian warmth, earnestness, and devotion. Let that faith be cherished by all who would serve their day and generation. Let people as well as preachers cherish it. Mutual must be the effort, if extension and lasting good is to be accomplished. Without the countenance and persevering assistance of the people, the most devoted servant of Christ can effect comparatively but little. The duty which the one owes to the other, and which both are pledged to render to truth, liberty, virtue, demand of each and of all, united, strenuous, consistent, never-failing labour. Let that labour be given in the solemn but joyous trustfulness, that if the

bread of life be cast upon the wide waters, it will, through the blessing of God, be found, though perchance after many days of exertion, and toil, and prayer.

RELIGIOUS TESTS.

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SINCE the publication of the Christian Pioneer for December, the liberal students of the University of Glasgow have held a meeting, and passed resolutions in approval of those of their Professors, praying the abolition of religious tests, and in reply to many of the statements contained in the reasons of protest assigned by the fessorial minority. The Senates of King's and Marischall Colleges, Aberdeen, have, by majorities, joined in the requisition for the abrogation of religious tests. A movement in the same direction has taken place in the United Associate denomination; and considerable stir has been occasioned among various civil and religious communities in relation to the subject. We rejoice in the agitation, satisfied that religious liberty will ultimately be the gainer, though we question much whether some of the parties, the keenest in the struggle, are enlightened enough to understand thoroughly the rights of the mind, and the genuine principles and practical bearings of civil and religious freedom. Men may clamour loudly against the exclusion from the chairs of Universities of members of the "Protesting Church," or of other" evangelical" Dissenting denominations, who yet would be horrified at the proposition that the measure of justice they claim for themselves, should be meted out to Catholics and Unitarians. Nay, some might probably carry their charity so far as to allow the eligibility of a Catholic, but the admission of a Unitarian is not so much as to be named! Men long and widely known for their liberality in politics, are not struck with the glaring injustice of this proscription. The secret sneerer at all religion as a cheat and an imposture, the avowed infidel, may, despite of these tests, have occupied the chair; but infidelity is not so obnoxious in many quarters as Christian Unitarianism.