their movements and direct them to a common point?" To this, I answer, that there is an alldisposing Mind on high. Let us, then, do our own part. Let us arm ourselves with the mind that was in Christ Jesus. Let our light shine forth in the triumphs of his patience, the splendour of his innocence, and the victorious energy of his love. Let us stand thus equipped as Christian soldiers, and we shall not want a leader. God will teach our hands to war, and our fingers to fight. Our cause will be the cause of Heaven; and we shall go forth conquering and to conquer.

ESSAY II.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.

In a former paper, it was my object to call on all that name the name of Christ, to put on the whole armour of God, as the only defence to be relied on, at this time of trouble, rebuke, and blasphemy. I observed, also, in that paper, that there has been of late an awakened sense of religion; but that the religion generally current has often more of zeal than knowledge, and often bears more leaves than fruit. This I attributed to the circumstance, that too much importance is given to agency on others, and too little to the strengthening and deepening of religious influences in our own minds. And as I consider this error to be the result not of accident (if that term be allowable), but of principle, I now proceed to give that principle the best examination in my power.

In considering this point, the main question is, in what does religion principally consist? Does it consist in receiving, or in imparting? On the resolution of this inquiry the whole matter de

pends. And for my own part I do not scruple to say, that in proportion as we know its real nature,

we shall see that religion is any agency of ours at all, but

not, in its essence,

an agency of God This all will, in

upon our minds and hearts. some sense, allow. Nevertheless, it is, I believe, practically lost sight of by numbers, who, in theory, admit its truth. The fact is, that the religious system now most popular amongst us, is but a bare and meagre thing. Its limbs shoot out to an unnatural length, while its body dwindles, comparatively, into nothing.

means.

The whole of Christianity may be ranged under three leading heads. 1st. What we believe. 2d. What we are. 3d. What we do. Now, it appears to me, that in the second of these grand divisions the body and substance of religion consist. The first of them, namely, what we believe, is but a We are, it is true, saved by faith. But faith is not salvation. It is the mere instrument or channel, through which saving and sanctifying influences reach the soul. Again, the third and last of these divisions, namely, what we do, has in itself no value, but what is derived from the motives on which we act. Thus our conduct, however it may benefit others, can be intrinsically good, only as the consequence of right principles implanted in the heart. Hence it follows, that

the essence of religion consists not in what we believe, or in what we do, but in what we are.

Christianity is, in a word, that change of nature, which restores us to the lost image of God, and opens in the soul the morning of a bright eternity. It is to dwell in love, whereby we dwell in God, and God in us; to have the same mind that was in Christ Jesus; and to be partakers of a divine nature. Whatever, therefore, may be the means, or whatever the consequence of religion, the thing itself is nothing more or less than true holiness and substantial happiness established in the soul!

But if we look abroad into the religious world, do we find this great truth sufficiently held up to view? No. The system now in vogue with many, consists in belief and outward agencies; and but little of those divine tempers which form the real Christian. The credenda and agenda, as Bishop Taylor styles them, are the main pillars of their theology, while it rests but lightly on the amanda; or, in other words, on those tastes and tendencies which fix the imperishable character of the mind. In short, the system of which I speak can be briefly summed up thus. First of all, believebelieve that you are justified and adopted; and, then, go forth into the highways and hedges, and compel men to come in and learn the little you

can teach them. To this narrow view, then, which unites the extremes and leaves out the main body of religion, is to be attributed, in a great measure, the ceaseless activity of agents so ill prepared.

As one corrective of this error, it would be well if such persons could be brought calmly to read over the Sermon on the Mount, and those discourses in St. John, in which our Savour describes at large the nature of his heavenly kingdom; and then fairly to determine, whether he gives the same prominence that they do to our agencies upon others. They would, I am persuaded, at once perceive, that the spirit of his doctrine is of a far different kind. It abounds, no doubt, with pregnant principles, which must, if deeply felt, open out into the most expanded benevolence. But still, the main stress is laid on what he could give, and not on what man could give to man. His language throughout is that of him, in whom all fulness dwelt; and whose anxiety was not to stimulate his hearers into action, but to invite them to receive of his fulness, without money and without price. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." "He that cometh to me shall never