safe. We may not know in what words to clothe our desires in prayer, or where to find language worthy of being presented to the Majesty of heaven. But, amidst the clouds that surround us, here is our comfort: In every nation, he that worshippeth with humility, worshippeth aright; he that praiseth with gratitude, praiseth well. The pride of establishments may despise him; but the wisdom and the righteousness of heaven will hear, and will approve him. It was to the humble, thankful Samaritan, though separated from the true church,—yes, it was to him alone, because he alone returned to glorify God, — that Jesus Christ said, "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole." Thus in a moment vanished, and became of no effect, the temple of the Jews, built by prophetic direction; its ritual, given by their illuminated legislator; all gave way to the profound humility and the sublime gratitude of what they called an unbeliever, of what Jesus Christ called the only faithful servant of God among - PREBENDARY COMINGS, of St. Patrick's, Dublin: Sermons on the Spiritual Kingdom of the Messiah.

them.

Dr. George Campbell, from whom we borrow this fine extract, says, in his work on Ecclesiastical History, that the sentiments quoted "convey an idea of the church truly rational, enlarged, and sublime; such as strongly distinguishes it from all the pitiful and contracted pales, so uncharitably erected by the different sectaries of all known denominations, Popish and Protestant, established and unestablished. For it is not a legal establishment, as some vainly imagine, or any thing merely external, that either makes or unmakes a sectary in the Scriptural sense: it is solely the spirit by which a man is actuated."

Benevolence is the great principle on which Christianity is founded; and it tends equally to the honor of religion, and the advantage of society, that Christ exacts from his disciples, in their conduct towards each other, the same illustrious quality that was displayed on the part of God in the redemption of mankind. The impetuosity of wrath, the bitterness of evil-speaking, and the cruelty of revenge, are peremptorily forbidden in every page of the gospel. That man is there pointed out by the sacred writers as the most acceptable servant of Christ, who cultivates a large and generous love towards his fellowcreatures; who seeks for opportunities of doing them good; who diligently retreats from every temptation to injure them; and who, by a happy union of prudence with good-nature, lives peaceably with all men..... If you would act up to the spirit of the gospel,... you must not suffer the love of your neighbor to be narrowed and enfeebled by

any fortuitous circumstance of rank or locality or religious persuasion. You must consider acquaintances and strangers, friends and foes, countrymen and foreigners, the members of your own and every other Christian community, the followers of Confucius and Mahomet as well as of Christ, heretics and schismatics, dogmatists and sceptics, monotheists and polytheists, the enlightened and peaceful inhabitant of towns in a civilized society and the wild savage roaming for his prey through the trackless forest, the sceptered monarch and the humble cottager, you must consider all of them as forming one great flock, placed here in one spacious fold, under one good Shepherd, who, in his own good time and for his own good purposes, will hereafter separate the better from the worse, and consign them to their proper stations, according to the measure which he only can know of their respective merits and demerits. — DR. SAMUEL PARR: Sermon on Rom. xii. 18, and Sermon on the Two Commandments; in Works, vol. vi. pp. 679, and 364-5.

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It is delightful to meet with sentiments so just and beautiful as these, with principles of candor so fraught with the spirit of Jesus, - with views of humanity so accordant with the whole genius of the Christian faith.

Let truth be shrined in argument; for this is its appropriate glory. And it is a sore disparagement inflicted upon it by the hand of vindictive theologians, when, instead of this, it is shrined in anathema, or brandished as a weapon of dread and of destruction over the heads of all who are compelled to do it homage. The terrible denunciations of Athanasius have not helped they have injured the cause. The Godhead of Christ is not thus set forth in the New Testament. It is nowhere proposed in the shape of a mere dictatorial article, or as a naked dogma, for the understanding alone; and at one place it is introduced as an episode for the enforcement of a moral virtue. In this famous passage [Phil. ii. 3—8], the practical lesson occupies the station of principal, as the main or capital figure of the piece; and the doctrine on which so many would effervesce all their zeal, even to exhaustion, stands to it but in the relation of a subsidiary. In these verses, there is a collateral lesson for our faith; but the chief, the direct lesson is a lesson of charity, which is greater than faith..... We protest, by the meekness and the gentleness of Christ; by the tears of him who wept at Lazarus' tomb, and over the approaching ruin of Jerusalem; by every word of blessing that he uttered, and by every footstep of this wondrous visitor over the surface of a land on which

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he went about doing good continually, we protest in the name of all these unequivocal demonstrations, that they do him an injustice who propound this message [the gospel message] in any other way than as a message of friendship to our species. He came not to condemn, but to save; not to destroy, but to keep alive. - DR. THOS. CHALMERS: Select Works, vol. iii. pp. 260-1, 263, New York edition.

From the beautiful sentiments here set forth, it is evident, that, strongly attached as this good and great man was to Calvinistic and Trinitarian theology, Dr. Chalmers regarded the virtues of meekness and humility, exemplified by Jesus Christ and recommended by the Apostle Paul, as of far higher importance than a belief in the doctrine of Christ's Supreme Deity; and that he felt no sympathy with that spirit of exclusiveness and of denunciation which has so often impregnated the "Orthodoxy" of his church. In passing, however, it may be remarked, that his interpretation of Paul's language is founded on a misconception of its meaning. This will be shown under Phil. ii. 6, in a succeeding volume.

Instead of imbibing, countenancing, or warranting intolerance and bigotry, he [Christ] taught, in all instances, their odiousness and guilt; and enjoined, with respect to every subject and person, the most absolute moderation, liberality, and candor; not, indeed, the fashionable liberality of licentious men in modern times, - a professed indifference to truth and holiness, but a benevolent and catholic spirit towards every man, and a candid and just one towards every argument and opinion. Distinctions of nations, sects, or party, as such, were to him nothing distinctions of truth and falsehood, right and wrong, were to him every thing. According to this scheme, he framed his instructions and his life; and the same catholic spirit and freedom from intolerance characterize the writings of his apostles. — T. HARTWELL HORNE: Introduction to the Holy Scriptures, vol. i. p. 167.

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Christianity itself condemns as decisively the evil tempers generated by religious disagreements, as it condemns any other immoralities; clearly, itself is a religion of love and meekness; and moreover it contains (however little they have hitherto been regarded) sufficient and very precise provisions, securing to Christians liberty of conscience, while cordial fellowship is not disturbed. The religion of Christ should therefore bear none of the blame accruing from religious strifes. ISAAC TAYLOR: Lectures on Spiritual Christianity, p. 182, New York edition.

True love seeketh not its own. It rejoices in the truth, by whomsoever professed or disseminated. If Christ is preached, whether in

pretence or in truth, it rejoices, yea, and will rejoice. It does not rebuke a man because he prefers to labor in a field different from that of his neighbor, or cut down the spiritual harvest with a different implement, or wear a costume somewhat plainer or more costly. It does not meet the report of a victory in the Christian cause with cold indifference, or with a hesitating approval, till it has first learned what particular sect has the agency, or will receive the benefit. It nobly overlooks all such things. It plants itself on no such narrow grounds. Its object is not to make proselytes, but to save souls; not to count up converts to this or that dogma, but to honor the Redeemer of the world. Wherever, in whomsoever, it can discern the lineaments of his blessed image, it welcomes him to communion, and rejoices in his prosperity. This is the spirit of Christ and of his apostles, unless the New Testament is wholly misinterpreted. In proportion as you love the cause of Christ as such, you may believe that your love is sincere, and will stand the last fiery test. In proportion as it is concerned with a sect as such, and pours out all its sympathy on its own peculiar and selected friends, may its genuineness be questioned. To confine your affections to one branch of the true church may be a proof of spurious love, as it certainly is of a narrow understanding. It may be the evidence of an arrogant Pharisaism, rather than of a Christian temper. The spirit of Christ was sympathizing, conciliatory, allembracing. He never turned coldly away because a suppliant was a poor Syrophenician. He did not resign the heterodox Samaritan to the uncovenanted mercies of God. - BELA B. EDWARDS: Writings, vol. i. pp. 455–6.

Since the days of our Lord's personal ministry, his disciples have altered the shibboleth of Christianity. The test-question is not now, "Simon Peter, lovest thou me?" but, "Simon Peter, thinkest thou as I do?" Unless the answer be clearly and decidedly affirmative, there is but cold welcome to the Master's vineyard: no excellence of piety is a sufficient offset to variant opinions, even about things the most abstruse and difficult of determination. No superiority of understanding compensates, in its admirable conclusions, for unlawful speculations upon subjects concerning which men have done little else than speculate from the beginnings of thought. "Venerable Bede," says John Newton, "after giving a high character of some contemporary, adds, 'But, unhappy man, he did not keep Easter our way.'" — DR. T. E. BOND, Jun.: Methodist Quarterly Review for April, 1853; 4th series, vol. v. p. 256.

Is it too much to ask such persons [as would abjure the union of Christians on any other terms than those of perfect identity of opinion with themselves] to place themselves in company with their divine Lord, and to follow him through all the scenes of his incarnation, for the purpose of asking from what action, or from what expression, they can feel authorized to treat with hostility, and to reject with scorn, the efforts that are being made to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood between his disciples? Is it from his Sermon upon the Mount, when he poured his benediction upon the peace-makers, and called them the children of God? Is it from his frequent rebukes to his too litigious followers? Is it from his conversation with the woman of Samaria, and his labors on that occasion, among a people hated and shunned by his own kindred? Is it from his inimitable parable of the good Samaritan? Is it from his reproof of the distempered zeal of his disciples, who would have stopped the man that cast out demons, because he followed not them? Is it from his forbearance with his apostles, under their cloudy apprehensions of his doctrine and his will, their impure motives, and their defective sanctity? How wide the interval which separated his religious knowledge and attainments from those of his disciples ! — he, the fountain of illumination; they, encompassed with infirmities: but did he recede from them on that account? No: he drew closer the bond of union, imparted successive streams of effulgence, till he incorporated his spirit with theirs, and elevated them into a nearer resemblance of himself. . . . . Is there, notwithstanding our differences, a principle known, -a principle attainable by us all, - a principle which is an integral part of our religion, —a principle which, if it were more cultivated and in full exercise, would subjugate all that is low and selfish and malevolent in our nature; and which, while it filled our own bosom with peace, would give us peace with our fellow-Christians of every name? There is. It is Love, — holy love, — heavenly love, Christian love. But where is it to be found? In the heart of God, in the bosom of Jesus, in the minds of angels, in the spirits of just men made perfect, and in the pages of the New Testament, we know; but where on earth shall we find it? It ought to be seen in beauty and in vigor in the church of Christ: this is built to be its mansion, and for its residence. But how little is it to be found in this its own and appropriated abode! - JOHN ANGELL JAMES: Union in relation to the Religious Parties of England; in Essays on Christian. Union, pp. 206-7, 217-8.