try there are, unhappily, many but little subject to the principles which Jesus inculcated, as the professors of other religions, the professors of none at all, the indifferent and the reckless, the abandoned and the ignorant, the inmates of the prison or the workhouse, of whom some have scarcely heard the name of God or Christ, unless when associated with profanity; to say nothing of the prevalence of passions and practices among the professors of Christianity themselves, the spirit of war, the craft of merchandise, the bane of intemperance, the zeal of partisanship in religion and politics, and the curse of despotism or of slavery. But, though occasionally used in this vague and inaccurate sense, startling the thoughtful mind by the contrasts which it awakens, the term is unambiguous, and serves the purpose for which it is employed.

2. The word "Christian" is also sometimes used to point out an individual, of any religious persuasion, whether he be a Mohammedan, a Jew, or a Pagan, who is distinguished from other men by the excellence of his moral character, so marked in his conduct as to resemble, though unintentionally, the exhibitions of the benevolent spirit in Christ. In this sense the term was applied by some of the early Fathers to the virtuous sages of antiquity. But it is quite evident that only by a figure of speech can it be said of one who lived before the time of Christ, or who has never heard of his name, that he is a disciple of Christ, or a Christian, no matter how nearly he may approximate to Jesus in his spirit and pursuits.

3. The most common signification of the term is that according to which it is made to denote a person who assents to certain dogmas of a particular branch of Christ's church, that are called, by way of distinction, "sound" or "orthodox." To this use of the word there are strong objections. It is too narrow in its comprehension, too vague and shifting in its import. It has its root in spiritual pride and uncharitable judgment; and its pestiferous breath would blast some of the holiest affections that grace domestic and social life. Every church, and every individual member of it, have an equal claim to call their opinions orthodox, and to regard those which are opposite as heretical or heterodox; and, if the element of dogmatic soundness enter into the import of the Christian name, all churches and all individuals avowing the religion of Jesus must have respectively a right to restrict this name to themselves, and to withhold it from others. And what would be the result but a war of words, burning zeal, and damnatory denunciations, the very antipodes to the whole aim and intent of Christianity? What the result has been is already told in the domination of the Romish church, and in the petty sectarianisms which have so often rent asunder the bonds of love and communion between Protestants.

4. A less frequent, but a more liberal, sense of the term "Christian" is its application to any one who, whatever may be his peculiar conception of the doctrines of Christianity, admits the divine or supernatural mission of its Founder. The word occurs only three times in the New Testament, Acts xi. 26; xxvi. 28. 1 Pet. iv. 16; and, with the exception of Peter, does not seem to have been used by any of the apostles. Words, however, of a

similar import are often met with; as, "disciples," "believers,” “brethren, saints,' ," "the elect," &c.; and, being applied indiscriminately to all who confessed the name of Christ, though they differed in moral deportment and in some doctrinal points, must have been employed to denote rather their obligation to be holy in their lives, and faithful to their professions, than to indicate the purity and spirituality of their characters, or the orthodoxy of their opinions. As soon as a Jew or a Heathen acknowledged by baptism Jesus to be the Messiah or the Son of God, he was admitted amongst the band of disciples or saints, without any questions being asked as to the precise nature of his belief; and, in correspondence with this practice among the apostles, the Unitarian Locke and the Trinitarian Whately would regard as Christians all who openly acknowledge the divine authority of Jesus.

5. It is obvious that the use of the term "Christian," in the sense just mentioned, — namely, in its application to all professing churches and members of Christ, would preclude much of that curious cavilling as to the belief of our fellow-men, and that unjustifiable prying into the depths of their hearts, which have always marked the conduct and demeanor of sectarians. But there is another and a more accurate use of the term, when it is employed to indicate one who not only admits the supernatural and miraculous origin of Christianity, but who manifests in his conversation and life the moral dispositions which Jesus prescribed and exemplified. If he may be called a Christian who publicly acknowledges his belief in Christ and his obligation to live in conformity with that profession, surely the man who not only "names the name of Christ," but who "departs from iniquity," who not only calls him "Lord and Master," but, with a heart full of love and reverence towards him, does what the great Messenger of Heaven commanded, is a disciple of Christ, a true Christian. All such men, whatever may be the complexion of their creed, are the real members of Christ's church. They are the saints of the earth, the elect of God, for whom Jesus has gone to prepare a place in the mansions of his Father. Both this and the preceding sense of the term "Christian" is countenanced by some of the able and catholic writers from whom we have quoted; and we cannot doubt, that, despite of sectarian influences, many will be glad to do the same justice to those who, "after the way which is called heresy, worship the God of their fathers."

6. There is still another sense in which the term "Christian" may, we think, be used; but its correctness will probably be denied by almost all members of orthodox churches, and be acknowledged by only a few Unitarians. We mean that sense in which the word is employed to represent a man who, whether he holds or does not hold Christianity to be a supernatural revelation, professes to regard Jesus Christ as pre-eminently his Master and Teacher in all matters of religion, and who shows by his discourse and his actions, that he has imbibed the spirit of the best and wisest One amongst the good and the wise of all nations and all times. We do not sympathize with the views of those who would banish the miraculous

from Christ and Christianity, and place Jesus merely among, or even at the head of, the class of philosophers and reformers who have been raised up by Providence to enlighten or instruct the race. We believe, that, in his offices and his character, he stands immeasurably above the Socrates, the Platos, and the Zoroasters, good and great as they may have been; and that he received from the Being who sent him influences of a special kind to become what no other has shown that he could become — the Redeemer of the world. Were we to reject the peculiarly divine element of the Gospels, we fear that we should be unable to admit the surpassing moral beauty and the godlike majesty of Christ's character, bound up as it seems to be indissolubly with the truthfulness of the wondrous tale; and should be ready to exclaim, "They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him." We should feel that the doubts and the speculations which had shaken our faith in the unmeasured inspiration of Christ had taken away the grounds for belief in his pre-eminent graces, taken away the Logos of God from the soul of the great Nazarene, had taken away all those attributes which made Jesus at once the Representative, the Image, the incarnate Son of God, and the type of a divine or perfected humanity, — had taken away that depth of affection which wept at the tomb of Lazarus, and gave back a living brother to the arms of affectionate sisters, taken away that voice of wisdom, which, flowing from the bosom of the infinite Father, through the Son of his love, spoke of life and immortality in tones of authority unused by Hebrew seer or Grecian sage,

had

taken away all the power and glory of that resurrection which was the pledge of Christ's truth, the reward of his sacrificing love, and the gate of his entrance to the realms of heaven, to the right hand of God, where he still acts on man's behalf, still implores a Father's mercy on an erring and a sinful world; that these doubts and speculations had taken away the substance of our Lord, and changed it into a shadow; that they had anatomized the breathing reality of Jesus, and converted it into a myth.

But we speak of our own feelings and convictions, not of those experienced by other minds. If, without his miracles, men can believe in Christ, let us rejoice; if, unable to recognize a voice from heaven at the baptism of Jesus, or to see a divine arm open his tomb and bring him forth, they can, notwithstanding, regard him as their Lord and Master, let us not refuse them his blessed name; if, while bigots frown and even the charitable shake their heads, the Rationalist sincerely obeys the behests of the Son of Mary, though he may doubt his claims as the divinely inspired Messiah, let us not forbid him "because he followeth not us," but be thankful for what faith he has, and, in a spirit of Christian kindness and unfeigned affection, try to win him to the blessing pronounced on the confession, "Thou art Jesus, the Son of God."

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CHAPTER II.

THE PRECIOUSNESS OF THEOLOGICAL TRUTH, AND THE UNRESTRICTED MEANS OF ACQUIRING IT.

SECT. I. THE IMPORTANCE OF RIGHT CONCEPTIONS OF RELIGION.

Loving truth

And wisdom for their own divinest selves.

P. J. BAILEY.

In the preceding chapter, it was our aim to show, by the assistance of eminent writers in the ranks of the Orthodox, that the spirit which has been so often manifested by the professed disciples of Jesus towards one another,the spirit of narrowness, of denunciation, and of persecution, -is wholly alien to the genius and the objects of Christianity; that, however it may disguise itself, whether in the garb of superior sanctity, of soundness af faith, or of a zeal for the cause of Heaven, this rampant spirit is at war with God's paternal character, with Christ's merciful message, and with man's best and noblest interests. We trust, however, that the sentiments contained in that chapter, while tending to deepen in the soul of the reader a love for his brethren of all theological denominations, may not have a deadening effect on his appreciation of the value of truth, as if it were of no importance whether a man's conceptions of religion be correct or otherwise. It certainly was not the intention of these writers to foster any such indifference in the minds of others; for many of them have been remarkable for their love of knowledge, 'and for their zeal in diffusing what they believed to be the doctrines of the gospel. Indeed, there is, and can be, no dissonance between the broadest views of the rights of our brethren in Christ, and the most devoted reverence for truth; though the cant of liberality may sometimes be heard from the lips of men who "care for none of these things;" who pay as little respect to those great principles of religion which are acknowledged by all professing Christians, as to the forms and dogmas which separate them into classes and parties. So far from there being any opposition between catholicity of feeling and a desire to possess and to spread right apprehensions of the nature of Christianity, that the most earnest inquirers after truth are of all men found to be the least acrimonious towards those who differ from them, because, in their investigations, they have had most need to practise such virtues as are conducive to charitable dispositions; and because, from their observation and their own

experience, they are the best cognizant of the various influences which tend inevitably to the production of variety of opinion. So also the true lover of his kind, the follower of peace, the friend of universal religious freedom, the opposer of all kinds of persecution, the member of Christ's catholic church, who recognizes the disciples of Christ in the sincere, the good, and the humble-minded of all denominations, will, if he be consistent with the principles from which his charity flows and takes its power, embrace every proper means for the diffusion of sentiments calculated to produce harmony and love among the various members of society. Knowing that the harsh thoughts, the bad tempers, and the unfeeling and condemnatory judgments of Christians, so called, have originated in their ignorance of the benign doctrines of the gospel, or rather in their forgetfulness of these amid their vain wranglings about matters which they do not understand or which cannot be understood, he will be led to disseminate what he regards as evangelical truth; he will recommend, in his conversation and his life, if he cannot by the aid of the pulpit or the press, those principles which constitute the chief elements of Christianity, the fatherhood of God, and the fraternity of man; the intrinsic worth of a soul made in the image of its Creator; the ruin effected in its constitution by the ravages of sin; the possibility of its recovery to a state of holiness, and of reconciliation to a Father's favor, through the at-one-ment which he who labored and died for the good of all, offers to those who, truly repentant, strive, with the energy of renewed and devoted wills, to become Christ-like in their submission to God; Christ-like In the piety, the purity, the benevolence, of their hearts and lives.

No service is more acceptable to God, and no conduct can be more pious or praiseworthy, than to aim at truth, and to acquire its transforming influence; and, being once attempted, the labor will become so delightful that it will never be relinquished. The knowledge of any truth is pleasant; but the knowledge of Christian truth is singularly beneficial. MELANCTHON; in Cox's Life of Melancthon, p. 92. Abhor all doctrines which blaspheme or dishonor the name of God, and would blemish and hide the glory of his majesty. I give you this rule for your own preservation, and not in imitation of uncharitable firebrands and dividers of the church, to exercise your pride and imperious humor, in condemning all men to whose opinions you can maliciously affix a blasphemous consequence, which either followeth but in your own imagination, or is not acknowledged, but hated, by those on whom you do affix it. Let it suffice you to detest false doctrines, without detesting the persons that you imagine guilty of them, who profess to believe the contrary truth as steadfastly as you yourselves. RICHARD BAXTER: Christian Directory; in Practical Works, vol. ii. p. 437.