may resist, a long while, whatever open force may be brought against them. It is the more speedy and certain evil of wrong principles, which will produce wrong conduct; want of regular employment, that will be succeeded by a dangerous activity, and find in dishonest and disreputable means, the gains that had been expected in a different pursuit. It is the course of immoral life, openly going to the very line of the law, and secretly passing it, that cannot to any extent be indulged, under free institutions, without inevitably undermining their foundations, and sooner or later tumbling them to the ground.

We do not know whether the classes of men to whom we refer, are more numerous in our Commonwealth, than might be expected anywhere with an equal population; but that there are such classes, and that already they exert an influence on our laws and manners and public men, is too obvious, we think, to be doubted. To all these, Paul Clifford will be a text book. They will form themselves by his model, if not in action to the extent which he is represented as going, yet in kind, and habit, and taste, and effect, with like disregard to principle, and like encouragement for depravity, and with the same conviction that the laws of society are not their friends; that the code of morality is the mere contrivance of self-interested individuals; that the one may be evaded without compunction, and the other set at nought whenever it can be done with impunity.

ART. V.—The Evil Consequences of an Injudicious Use of the Old Testament. For the Christian Examiner.

AN apostle said of the Jews, that when Moses was read, a veil was upon their heart. For this, perhaps, they were not answerable. Their prejudices were sufficiently natural. But their condemnation was, that they obstinately resisted every endeavour that was made to remove them. It would seem as if the moment the fact was stated to them, that the Hebrew religion was only a preparation for another, they must have felt that it was true. It was evidently adapted to a single people and to an ignorant age. It was full of safeguards against idol

atry, which was the prevailing temptation of an unenlightened people. It abounded in ceremonial observances, such as are suited to a people who resemble children in their simplicity, and were more likely to regard a trifling visible form than an important religious truth. If this were not enough, the fact that all the Hebrews were required to present themselves three times a year in the temple, made it evident that the religion was meant for a country of narrow bounds. To suppose that it was meant to be perpetual, is the same as supposing that man was intended to keep himself forever an infant in understanding, and to resist improvement as a matter of duty; for the Hebrew law is plainly and exactly calculated for an infant state of the world.

All this is now so evident to any reader of the Old Testament, that it seems almost impossible that it should not have forced itself upon the convictions of the Jews. It is true their religion was their great distinction above the rest of the nations; and it is natural that they should have resisted everything which went to diminish its value in their eyes. But there must have been those among the wiser men of their country, who felt a secret consciousness that the system was not likely to endure. Why not, then, come forward, when they heard Jesus Christ saying, that the purpose of that law had been fulfilled by his coming-why not come forward and receive the living spirit instead of the dead letter? It must be remembered that a large proportion of them did receive his instructions, and avow themselves Christians. And those who did not, were undoubtedly kindled to fiercer wrath by a consciousness deep within the breast, that the days of their faith were numbered. Such is human nature; and but for this irritating consciousness it would have been almost impossible for the Pharisees to overcome the personal popularity of Jesus Christ. Seeing to what point their efforts were directed, he repeated to them that it was not his object to destroy, but fulfil; that not an iota should pass away from the law, till all was fulfilled. They felt the foundations of their national pride sinking beneath them, and were wrought up to madness, instead of being subdued to sorrow and despair.-We may trace the operation of this singular feeling among religious partisans of the present day. Instead of yielding with the best possible grace to the force of truth, they resent argument as a personal affront, the moment it grows too hard for them to answer, and never cling to their faith with a grasp so inflexible as

at the moment when their last poor sophism in defence of it, is overthrown.

We should have but little concern with this piece of history at present, however, if the same prejudice were not found among many who bear the name of Christians. We do not hesitate to say, that many professed Christians have nothing but the Hebrew religion. Because the Old Testament holds the foremost place in their Bibles, they give it the same place in their reverence and affections. Not merely the ignorant, but those who might know better, regard those writings as equally important with the gospel. They read the Old Testament, and neglect the New. They get their ideas of God and duty from the Old Testament. If they want instruction, encouragement, or consolation, they go to the Old Testament. They are in the constant habit of drinking from that broken and moss-grown cistern, though the living water is flowing at their feet. If this were the case only with those who use the Bible as a talisman to guard the household, or read it as an incantation, believing in its magical power to purify and calm the soul, we should not say a word. But those who have the power, and whose duty it is, to correct such impressions, feel as if it were their interest to sustain them; and to this do we ascribe much of the narrowness of feeling, the servility of devotion, which dishonors the religious spirit of the present day, and gives occasion to the enemies of Christianity to say, that, by drawing their faith and feeling from such a fountain, Christians are become no better than Jews, in understanding, character, and heart.

We believe that this is a great evil, and therefore state it strongly. Doubtless we shall be asked, in no good temper, whether we would not have the Old Testament read. Certainly we would have it read; but read as the word of God addressed to an unenlightened people, and no more suited to Christians than infant instruction to the manhood of the mind. The difficulty is, that men read it with a veil upon their hearts; without in the least regarding what people and what times it was meant for. We would have it read, as containing the record of the Hebrew, not the Christian faith, and fix the reverence of men as strongly as possible upon the Gospels, as the great treasury of our religion.

We will now attempt to point out one or two of those results which follow from this misuse of the Hebrew scriptures.

Men borrow from them incorrect impressions of the nature of

God. In his nature he is everywhere present, and therefore is familiar with all that passes in the universe-near or distant, in the dead of midnight or the blaze of noon. Christianity labors to impress this truth; to make its disciples feel that we never can escape the searching gaze of that Eye that reads the heart. And every one who is not a perfect stranger to his own heart, must be conscious that this is one of the strongest inducements we have to be faithful-to know that we act always in the sight of God.

Now by resorting to the Old Testament as constantly as we do, we are in danger of losing the benefit of this impression. We find there grand and striking representations of the divine majesty, but all of the material kind. God appears as a king seated on a throne of glory. Hyacinth, jasper, emerald, and gold make up the splendor of his array. Little, comparatively speaking, is said of the moral perfections of his nature, which entitle and recommend him to the reverence and love of enlightened minds, because such representations were not suited to impress the hearts and imaginations of the Jews. On the contrary, everything gives the impression, that he exists in a human form-an impression which needs to be resisted. Perhaps we should except Solomon's prayer at the opening of the temple, though even in that sublime address to the Most High, it is the language, rather than the meaning, which seems superior to the common theology of that people. It is impossible to conceive of a human form as everywhere present, and it hardly needs be said, that when we cease to feel the omnipresence of the Deity, almost all the power of religion is lost.

There are few, we believe, who cannot feel in themselves the bad consequences of being more familiar with the Hebrew, than the Christian representations of God. We do not mean to say that the Old Testament gives these impressions ;-they are the natural fancies of childhood;-but our finding them confirmed in a page so sacred, prevents the gospel from wearing them away. There are few who feel as they would wish to feel, that no change of place can remove them from the sight and presence of God-of Him who knows the thoughts, purposes, and wishes of every heart. The very language we employ sustains, as well as expresses, this error. We speak of going into the presence of God. We speak of some places as if God were present there, and absent from others. When our Saviour said, My God! my God! why hast thou forsaken me?'-the

words were not his own. They were an application to himself of the words of his ancestor. We do not get this dialect from him, nor from his disciples. They will furnish us with more worthy, just, and exalted views of God; and, unless we learn to reverence his moral perfections, we shall have no regard for his sovereignty. We cannot pay homage to sceptres, thrones, and crowns. Such pageantry can never inspire the feelings which religion demands.

Of the divine character, this practice gives us still more unjust impressions. The Old Testament reminds us, not so much of God's mercy as of his exalted power. It holds out, comparatively, but little encouragement to repentance and prayer, and, in the whole of its spirit and letter, awakens fear rather than love. The object of the Hebrew law was to intimidate and overawe, because an appeal to better feelings would have been vain. God seldom appears there as a kind and merciful Father. Tenderness would not have been understood. He is the terrible and resistless king. Clouds and darkness are round about him. The storms are his messengers, the lightnings his servants. Everything was gloomy and repelling. The registry of the law was engrossed in blood. It said of almost every transgression, The soul that sinneth it shall die.' We do not mean that God was not called the Father of Men, but that all such representations were overshadowed by the awful visions of his destroying power.

Notwithstanding the repeated assurances of Christianity, that 'God is love,' such impressions, borrowed from the Old Testament, prevail very generally among Christians. Can any man doubt that we perpetuate this delusion by taking our idea of God from ancient prophets, instead of later and milder interpreters of his will? The piety of too many is slavish and depressing. The strain of their devotion is weak and low. It consists in abject and insincere self-humiliation. You can measure their secret pride by the very depth of their abasement, as you know that the miser feels richest when he talks most of being poor. When their piety is not hollow, it is mistaken and unworthy-unlike as possible to the glad and grateful offering, which real religion inspires. For the same reason, not one child in a thousand has the least conception of devotion. God is represented to them without one solitary attraction; and how can they be expected to go familiarly to pour out their hearts to a being whom they dread? Nothing which they know of his