recommend; and to a despotism which has no subjects, but moulds a whole nation of men, created in God's image, and redeemed by the blood of Christ for a holy, spiritual freedom, into a mass of slaves. In England, Nicholas might not only see the path of duty, but see that it was equally the path of honour and security. A few days after he had landed, London was placarded with hundreds of hand-bills with "Poland" as their text, any one of which, had it appeared in Petersburgh, would have thrown the whole city into an agony of fear, but which were here less regarded than the dust raised by the wind. Happy the nation where law recognises the rights of individuals, and where individuals know that they exercise their rights as accountable to the supremacy of equal law ! What has brought England to this state but the spread of that evangelical truth by which man is at once elevated and humbled, liberated and restrained, called to the acknowledgment of privilege, and led to the practical acknowledgment of obligation? Human nature was plainly designed for certain social developements; but as the influence of the Gospel is necessary for their production, so, wherever it is permitted to operate, and in proportion to the freedom and extent of its operation, will they be unfailingly produced. Primarily designed to promote the salvation of individual man, the Gospel is the only safe and certain instrument of his social improvement. Does it not follow from this that the Gospel must have come from the Creator of man, who "setteth the solitary in families?" And if the Gospel do thus reveal the will of man's Redeemer and Lord, ought not all political philosophy to be referred to it, as its only unerring standard? And if so, have not both parties, whose contentions are perpetually threatening to disturb the peace of Europe, much to learn; yes, and much to unlearn, too? Let the advocates of what they call "order," who are ready to stifle, at any expense, every aspiration after freedom, look at man, as he ap pears in the light of redemption,—ransomed by the blood of incarnate Deity, designed to be a temple of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, and for whom the eternal felicities of heaven are prepared is man, so dear to God, to be reduced to the level of a yoked and bridled animal, and deprived of that freedom of thought, and speech, and action, by which he may move onward in the career of unlimited improvement? And let them who claim by way of eminence to be called liberal, likewise go to Calvary; and, casting away their shallow, but mischievous, philosophy, see in Christ crucified the "wisdom of God, and the power of God." But the Unitarianism, or, which is the same thing, the infidel liberalism, of the day, hates this with a hatred more intense than words can express. With them all punishment is corrective: the doctrine of eternal punishment, therefore, is false. Vindicative justice, asserting the solemn majesty, and maintaining the purity and supremacy, of law, is a mere fiction: the doctrine of atonement, therefore, which demonstrates the righteousness of God, is false. Too much power has been given to these enemies of the cross of Christ. Their conclusions, on subjects connected with liberty, have been so plausibly expressed, that many evangelical Christians have been deluded to join them, without inquiring whether their principles were sound. And now, they are using the power which never ought to have been conceded to them, and for protesting against which we have often borne the charge of narrow-mindedness and bigotry, to promote their own purposes, and secure to themselves property which was never intended for them. But we will say nothing thus incidentally on so import. ant a subject as the "Unitarian Bill." We return to our former theme, and assert it to be our solemn conviction, not lightly or hastily formed, that the only true philosophy of man, individual or social, is to be found in the doctrine of Christ crucified. Both despots and anarchists are rebuked by it. They who desire to save their own souls must submit to its influence. They who desire to benefit society must seek to spread its influence. It is only as all the truths which it comprises operate on men, that the true amelioration of society advances. June 8th, 1844. POETRY. THE DEATH-BED OF THE RIGHTEOUS." BY THE REV. ROBERT MONTGOMERY. Like God's own language !-'tis an hour of awe, From faith immortal. View that pale worn brow; A dazzling earnest of unutter'd joy. Each pang subdued, his longing soul respires And round him hues ethereal, harps of light, *From "Death." THOUGHT AND DEED. FULL many a light thought man may Full many an idle deed may do ; When by the wind the tree is shaken, By One that sees and governs all. The tree may fall, and be forgotten, The world is with creation teeming, And nature still unfolds the tissue Of unseen works by spirits wrought; And not a work but hath its issue, With blessing or with evil fraught. And thou may'st seem to leave behind thee All memory of the sinful past; *From "Poems," by C. R. Kennedy, Esq. LOVE TO CHRIST. "Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity."-Eph. vi. 24. DO YOU LOVE CHRIST ?-I ask not if you feel Do you love Jesus in the orphan's claim, Say not, "When saw we him?"-Each member dear, And if unvalued or unown'd by thee, Where is thy life in Christ, the living Head? How canst thou dream that thou hast life divine? Sweet is the union true believers feel: Into one Spirit they have drunk: the seal Of God is on their hearts; and thus they see In each the features of one family. If one is suffering, all the rest are sad; *From "Songs from the Parsonage." ODOURS.+ O, THE bean-field in blossom, the mown grass, the clover, Like the stream from the mountain, how soft, but how mighty In aught else so much, save affection's caress? In aught else of the earth? For the spirit that soareth The fragrance that breathes through the garden above. O, thither then oft let the scent-laden breezes, + From "Songs from the Parsonage." LONDON:- PRINTED BY JAMES NICHOLS, HOXTON-SQUARE. |