former dispensation, " spake unto the fathers by the prophets," manifests himself under the latter, in living and palpable exhibition: and, therefore, the humility of the incarnate God appears in what he did and suffered, still more than in what he said. Nay, though he spake as never man spake, his silence expresses what no words can reach. When "the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity," declares that he is "meek and lowly in heart;" it does, indeed, "revive the spirit of the humble." But the impression is still more tender and profound, when we behold him assailed with taunts and insults, to which "he answered nothing;" when we behold him, "led as a lamb to the slaughter;" and when," as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth."

If, to all that I have urged, it be objected, that the foregoing representations of God, in the Old Testament, are not descriptions of what he is, in himself, but mere accommodations to our weakness; I admit the objection, to a certain extent. But, as far as it goes, it still more confirms the view which I have taken. It proves that Christ is identical with God, not in his incomprehensible essence, but brought down to the level of human apprehension. It proves that he is what the Scriptures declare, "God manifest in the flesh."

XIV. ON THE DISTINGUISHING MARKS OF A

CHRISTIAN.

There is no question which it more concerns the Christian to consider, than that which our Saviour asks in the fifth chapter of St. Matthew; "What do ye more than others?" Or, to throw the inquiry into another form, What is implied in the being a Christian? A serious examination into this matter, will lead, I apprehend, much farther than is generally supposed.

In ascertaining what a Christian is, we must exclude from our definition whatever he possesses in common with other classes of mankind. If I were called upon to describe what a soldier, a lawyer, or the member of any other specific calling, means; it would be considered as totally irrelevant, and foreign from the point, were I to describe him as a compound of body and soul; as possessing reason, locomotion, or any of the common properties and universal attributes of the species. In like manner, we must exclude from the definition (I mean here the moral and spiritual definition) of a Christian, whatever it is possible for men to attain to, without being the subjects of those peculiar influences which Christianity alone can impart.

VOL. I.

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Now, without these peculiar influences, men may attain to much. The Socinian believes in a future state of rewards and punishments; and, moreover, he receives the Gospel as a rule of life. And a sincere persuasion of these truths, is fully competent to the production of many virtues. It can make men honest, upright, and veracious; good fathers, good husbands, good subjects, and good neighbours. If, then, a system which rejects the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith, can, nevertheless, produce these fruits; it follows that they can form no part of that, in which the distinct and characteristic definition of Christianity consists. We grant, that whoever is wanting in any one of the above particulars, in vain would call himself a Christian. But this is to say no more than that we take it for granted, that a soldier, or a lawyer, possesses the powers and properties which are common to man. No. In this vague and unrestricted sense, to ask, "What is necessary to the being a Christian?" is to propose a question, which no finite mind could

answer.

The important inquiry which I propose is this: "What marks do I bear, which may satisfy and not deceive my conscience, that I am a Christian indeed, a child of God, and an inheritor of everlasting life?" Here we tread on ground,

where no footsteps are to be found, save those of the followers of the Lamb. No evidences can be admitted, but "the marks of the Lord Jesus." It will not do to say, "I am temperate, prudent, chaste. I love my neighbours, friends, and kinsmen. I am a good husband, father, and friend." To all this it may be answered, "What do ye more than others?" To be a Christian, is to be what none but a Christian can be. It is, being justified by faith, to feel ourselves at peace with God; and calmly to repose in the blood of Jesus. It is to be partakers of a divine nature; cleansed and sanctified by the Spirit of our God. It is to be crucified to the world, dead to pride, to sensuality, and to self; and, at the same time, to be "not slothful in business," active in every duty, alive to every sympathy, rejoicing with them that rejoice, and weeping with them that weep. To be a Christian, is, in a word, to be a new creature, with whom old things are passed away, and all things become new; whose life is hid with Christ in God, and whose citizenship is in heaven. Reader, does this description suit thy case? Art thou a Christian? If not, go to him who can make thee one; who can forgive thy sins, change thy nature, and impress his own image and superscription on thine heart.

XV. ON SOLITUDE.

There is, in the human mind, a natural dread of solitude. Nor is this to be wondered at: for solitude has no existence in the truth of things. It is a dark illusion of the mind; a spectre, which haunts the soul, while dead in trespasses and sins; but which flies at the approach of light, and vanishes at the dawn of an eternal day.

I repeat it, there is no such thing in real existence, as that solitude which the carnal mind pictures to itself, when sensible objects and visible witnesses are withdrawn. In theory all must admit this, who believe in the being and ubiquity of God. But there is, to the mind awakened to the life of faith, a practical and realizing impression of the same great truth, which opens in the soul a sense of happiness unfelt before. “Ye are come," says the apostle, "unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant."

Such is the brilliant and august assembly, into