thief, was so forgiving that Renan "divine incapacity of he had a says seeing evil," taught to forgive seven times and seventy times seven, to love even enemies, turn the cheek when smitten and give more when stolen from, and in the same spirit he closed his life by asking forgiveness for his very murderers. Jesus was indeed a son and incarnation of that God of extreme forgiveness and love, and taught that everyone should be. Too often the church has forsaken him and followed the intolerant Jonah instead. The average Christian has hardly cultivated meekness enough to forgive 490 times; and Tolstoi says that when a Jewish rabbi asked him if we did not turn the cheek when smitten, he had nothing to reply, for just then Christians were smiting the Jews on both cheeks. Smiting has indeed been made quite a virtue in Christian history, and Jesus' " Blessed are the peacemakers" has been drowned in the roar of Christian cannon; and instead of loving its enemies, the church for centuries made a business of butchering and sometimes burning them. It now and then responded to its Master's "blessed are the merciful," by the shrieks of women tortured at the rack, and taught for a thousand years that they and most of mankind would be tortured far worse and forever after

death. It is only 200 years ago that an Oxford professor wrote a book which claimed to prove that (in the words of its title page) "Not one in a hundred thousand, nay probably not one in a million from Adam down to our times shall be saved;" even then a critic is said to have censured the book for saving too many.

Such days and doctrines are now past, and all Christendom is getting nearer to the spirit of Jesus. There is still indeed a widespread opinion that his beatitudes need considerable

amendment; that the pure in heart shall not see God unless they have also the proper theology in their head,

and that the merciful shall not obtain mercy unless they bear the Christian name. But more and more men

are seeing that it is not theological theories about Jesus, but the spirit of Jesus, that makes true Christians; and that if they have that spirit it makes little difference whether they bear his name or not. Indeed, Jesus

himself was far too noble to care for his name, and once, according to the record, even rebuked men for trusting to that, and said unto many who should claim that they had "prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done" so many things, he should reply, "I never knew you;" for he said, not calling him Lord, Lord, but doing the will of the father, brought them into the kingdom. Jesus placed himself squarely on the religion of principles instead of names; and those who are true to him will not try to make religion any narrower. They will proclaim that uprightness is righteous, whatever church it comes in; that goodness is good and Godlike, whatever creed it grows with; that in every land on earth and under every faith in history, Christian, heretic or heathen, peacemakers are sons of God, forgiveness is divine, and love is itself religion.

Why let mere doctrinal differences divide men and lessen love? I read of the girl who was ever worrying her brother and herself about his doctrinal opinions until he somewhat lost patience and said, "O, hang your theology, let us be brother and sister!" And would it not be better if the quarreling religions of the world would hang up their theologies for a season and learn to be more brotherly and sisterly? For love is better than any theology--or rather,

love teaches the best theology. The Baptist clergyman, when asked how his daughter came to marry a Catholic, replied that cupid had never studied theology. But perhaps it would be truer to say that he has studied it better than any one else. Love learns it best at any rate; and the apostle well says, "Every one that loveth is begotten of God and knoweth God," "for God is love," and "if we love one another, God dwelleth in us.”

And cannot this principle of love and forgiveness, taught so well in the book of Jonah and the words of Jesus, be carried further in secular life also, and trusted more than it ever has been? Was Jesus such a visionary in this matter as the world and even the church has supposed? I think he was correct in it, and that sermon on the mount, however foolish it may seem to the standards of the street, is a prophesy of the state, and its principles will yet be the law of the world. Already we hear in many a social movement that selfishness will be fatal to society. A state that allows one man to own a railroad while thousands starve in rags is doomed to go and ought to. Poor Sissy Jupe, when asked the first principles of political economy, forgot her lesson and stammered out in her confusion that it was "to do unto others as you would have others do unto you," and came near being flogged by her teacher for such folly. But she was right and the political economy of the golden rule is the only one that will make society safe.

And selfishness is fatal not only to states, but to our best selves. The only way to get true joy is to share it with others. The legend tells how a fairy gave a youth a blossom, which when breathed upon would give him whatever he wished. So he breathed and wished, and got wine and laugh

ter, but soon grew sick of them. Then he breathed again and wished, and a maiden came and served him; but she also soon ceased to please him. Then he said joy was not for him, and he breathed again and wished that others might have it. Then the laughter and the maiden returned to delight him far more than at first; and the fairy said, "Now joy is yours and will remain, for you wished it for others." Selfishness proves but poor policy, and those who give themselves for others get the most, from great heroes down to the youth who made it a rule, whenever he went to a party, to dance with the girls who were neglected by every one else. Selfishness dwarfs the mind, too, and love enlarges it. Vauvenargues said, "great thoughts come from the heart;" and Hawthorn wrote, "We are but shadows, till the heart be touched; that touch creates us, then we begin to be."

Jesus was wise in his emphasis of love, and our best men imitate him. Said Longfellow:

"I am in love with love,

And the sole thing I hate is hate:
For hate is the unpardonable sin,
And love the Holy Ghost within."

And the poet was as good as his word, aud never harbored a bitter feeling. When Poe was abusing him he was giving lectures in praise of the latter's poetry; and when it was proposed to make him a visitor of Harvard College the president of the committee said: "What would be the use? Longfellow could never be brought to find fault with anybody or anything." And his biographer says that it was true, and that his whole life was bathed in that sympathy and love "which suffers long and envies not, which forgives 70 times 7, and as many more times if need be."

And is not this forgiveness a prac

tical power in the world? Call to mind that scene of Mr. Beecher before the hostile audience at Richmond after the war. There sat Fitz Hugh Lee and several rebel generals and a large body of Southerners, gathered out of curiosity, but greeting him with hisses. Calmly looking over the audience, Mr. Beecher at length. said, "Is this Gen. Lee?" The general silently and icily bowed.

Then," said Mr. Beecher, "I want to offer you this right band, which in its own way fought against you and yours, but which I would now willingly sacrifice to make the South prosperous and happy. Will you take it, géneral" Amid the hushed. surprise of the audience, Gen. Lee arose, stepped forward and stretched his arm across the footlights; and as their hands clasped, there arose from that secession assembly such applause as the old hall had never heard before; and the abolitionist orator, who had done about as much as any man in the country to bring on the war that devastated Virginia, rode through Richmond next day amid the cheers of the men who were almost ready to mob him a few hours before. So much is forgiveness worth, even in politics. And so much it is worth everywhere. It works more wonders than force, even among the worst. classes. Cruel punishments have increased crime, while gentler methods have diminished it, and I dare say the time will come when society will treat adulteresses, thieves and the worst criminals more as Jesus treated them. Men are to be moved and society reformed through the heart, and nothing touches the heart like forgiveness and love. Jesus right in making so much of them, and the world will come to it yet.

was

Too long the ship of state has carried the unforgiving and intolerant spirit of Jonah-not asleep, either,

but stirring up storms worse than in the story. Let it be cast out with the prayer that no providence may interfere to save it. Then the old miracle will be repeated, the waves grow calmer and under the guidance of the spirit of love, society will be safer and religion surer. Through the natural laws of the world and the natural affections of the human heart we should feel a higher love enfolding us, and find a God who does not repent or need to but whose mercy is eternal.

CHRIST HUMBLED HIMSELF.

The Apostle Paul, in his epistle to the Philipians, (2: 5, 8,) has a remarkable passage both in a doctrinal and practical point of view. It seems to us to deserve the serious attention of our Humanitarian brethren. Taking their position and looking at it in the light of their theory, we can make nothing of it. The apostle was exhorting his brethren to "lowliness of mind," and that broad, generous, Christian sympathy, which should give them lively interest in whatever concerned the welfare and happiness of their fellow men. In enforcing this exhortation he very properly directed them to their great Exemplar, Jesus Christ, in these words:

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it no robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

Here are several things to be observed, as: 1. Christ must evidently have existed and been "in the form of God, i e., been "the brightness of the Father's glory and the

no

express image of his person," before he appeared on earth. Otherwise this declaration of the apostle has no meaning. 2. While he was thus in the form of God, and might have remained so, for a supremely benevolent purpose he made himself of “ reputation," or divested himself of "the glory he had with the Father, before the world was," by "taking upon him the form of a servant and being made in the likeness of men." The Word was made flesh. 3. Being found in fashion as a man," -necessarily implying that he was not a mere man, as Humanitarians believe, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, mechri hanatou, even to death, the death indeed "of the cross. Assuming that Christ was a mere man, like every other man, can any one tell us what is the force of the apostle's argument here? It is no condescension in one of us that we are" in the likeness of men," or are "found in fashion as a man." We divest ourselves of nothing by being men, and there seems to be no propriety in saying that we humble ourselves by becoming obedient, even to death.

GOD SAVES.

Universalism acknowledges a direct and efficient agency of God, in the process of salvation from sin. God cannot indeed hate sin in our stead; but he can and will surround us with influences which shall make our aversion to sin not only possible, but absolutely certain. He cannot turn to holiness for us; but he can exhibit to us the beauty of holiness, and in this way attract our souls to the love and practice of it. While we are anxious to recognize the instinct of accountability in our own souls; and while we cannot and do not wish to repress the conviction, that every step in the path of the righteous,

must demand a voluntary exertion of our own powers, we must not at the same time, forget that there is a God, and that he is Almighty, and that he is able to rule in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, in all things accomplishing his good pleasure. The sovereignty of God pertains to the dominion of mind, as well as that of matter; and it is as easy for him to govern the course of human notions and impulses, as to regulate the planets in their

course.

All

Acting in harmony with those laws of the human soul which he has ordained, God cannot, indeed, be righteous for his children, and in their stead. He cannot repent for us; he cannot hate iniquity for us; he cannot have righteousness for us. this is personal-matter of experi ence, which every soul must realize for itself. Nevertheless, the Great Father can aid us, and influence us, and attract us, in all our struggles for deliverance from sin, and for growth in goodness. He can support us by his grace; he can surround us with redeeming influences; he can pour the light of love into our soul; he can attract us by his truth; he can soften our hearts by his compassion; he can conquer our rebelious wills by his long suffering and his enduring mercy; he can so order all the arrangements of his providence, that, at the needful time, the right impulse shall fill the hearts of men, motives to righteousness be induced, holy resolutions become fixed and resistless, and the victory be made final and complete.

THE mind is but a barren soil, a soil which is soon exhausted, and will produce no crop, or only one, unless it be continually fertilized and enriched with foreign matter.-Sir J. Reynolds.