Page images
PDF
EPUB

"My father loved him well.
To him I've knelt in prayer,
"Beside my mother's knee.

"But, say, with love as deep as mine,
"Will that great God love me?"
Ah yes, my child, far deeper
Than aught that thou can'st give,
That love for aye surrounds you,
"Tis the life wherein you live.
Then on the green turf kneeling,
Eyes raised,-in accents wild
He murmured, "Heavenly father,
"Am I indeed thy child?
"Oh father! only love me,
"And for thee my life I'll spend,
"Yes, now I know he hears me,
"Joy! joy! I've found a friend.”
When we long for friends to love us,
With a love that passes measure,
When our heart's warm affections
Would pour out their goiden treasure,
Earth has no room to hold them,
We must garner them above,
Then alone they're truly living,
For the spirit's life is love.

M.

THE JEW AND THE CHRISTIAN.

A FRAGMENT.

"Christian," replied the Jew, "cease your vain endeavors to draw me from the faith of my forefathers. The God whom I adore, is one God-the great I am;' yours is three Gods."-Here the Christian was proceeding to explain. "Listen to me," resumed the Jew. "Human knowledge reacheth not the throne of the Most High, neither can Jehovah be known but by his attributes. From his works, judge of the Architect.Behold the globe which we inhabit. Here, wherever we turn our eyes, all is full of animation-the Earth, the Sea, the Airall teeming with sentient beings of various shapes, forms and dimensions, from the great Behemoth down to the microscopic animalcule, fifty thousand of which do not equal the size of a mite. Not a spot of ground-not a drop of water-not a leaf of the forest, but what is swarming with millions of inhabitants, invisible to the unassisted eye; yet each formed with a mouth, stomach,

eyes and other organs for the performance of animal functions-all enjoying existence-all pursuing the various ends for which they were created.

If, from the manifestations of the infinite wisdom and intelligence displayed in the globe which we inhabit, we raise our view to those which are no doubt inhabited by other intelligent beings, we are overwhelmed, bewildered and utterly confounded by the vastness of the design.

The nearest world to our earth is the Moon. Viewed through a good telescope, a scenery nearly similar to ours presents itself. But the most conspicuous object for its brilliancy and grandeur, that more particularly attracts our notice, is the Sun-a body whose immense capacity could contain a million of worlds as large as ours. Around this luminary, the centre of our planetary system, revolve a hundred worlds, (including the Satellites and Comets,) many of them greatly surpassing ours in magnitude-Behold that bright speck, scarcely visible in the heavens. (Jupiter.) What is it? A majestic world, fourteen hundred times larger than ours, capable of containing, on its broad surface, all the multitudinous host of human beings that have existed on our Earth since the Creation of man, and a hundred fold more superadded! See Venus, the morning and evening Star, nearly as large as our earth, whirling round the Sun at the rate of seventysix thousand miles an hour; and that other world still nearer the Sun, (Mercury,) flying through space with the awful velocity of eighteen hundred miles in a minute!

Such is part of our planetary system. And what is this system, this sun of ours with his hundred circumvolving orbs, when compared to that portion-perhaps only but a small portion-of Jehovah's works, which comes within the reach of human vision? A mere atom in the visible universe-a particle of creation so diminutive, that its total annihilation would scarcely be discernible to a spectator, whose visual range could grasp the hitherto discovered productions of the Eternal Mind.

Yonder small scintillation, scarcely perceptible in the firmament, (the Star Lyra) what is it? A Sun, fifty-four thousand times larger than ours.*-And at what an immense distance, too! At such a distance, that a cannon ball projected from the earth, and flying at the rate of five hundred miles an hour, would not reach the nearest fixed star in four millions of years!

Of such suns, at immeasurable distances from us and from each other, and of various magnitudes, upward of eighty millions have already been discovered by the indefatigable perseverance of Astronomers. And what can these suns be?-Gems to gaze upon? No. God createth nothing in vain. They must then be the respective centres of millions and myriads of millions of revolving

*According to Sir William Herschell's computation.

worlds-worlds inhabited like ours with sensitive and intellectual natures, of various orders and gradations-worlds to which, perhaps after the termination of this our first stage of being, this dawn of our existence-our disembodied spirits shall be wafted -and these, undergoing new trials, and rising to still higher and higher scenes, as our intellectual and moral powers continue to advance nearer and nearer to perfection-we shall, at last, be enabled to contemplate the immediate presence of the Deity, and to repose in the peaceful enjoyment of never-ending beatitude!"Great and marvellous are thy works"-(breathed forth the pious Jew, in adoration,)-"Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Who can, by searching, find out God? Who can find out the Almighty to perfection?"

"And now, Christian," resumed the Jew, "is it possible for me to believe that the Eternal Mind, who willed into existence so many myriads of worlds, should vouchsafe to sacrifice a portion of his own God-head for the salvation of the inhabitants of this diminutive mansion of ours, which, compared to the universal creation, is no bigger than a grain of sand on the sea-shore?"

To which the Christian replied. "Descendant of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob, I say not that Jesus of Nazareth was the very God. No truly enlightened and unprejudiced Christian will make such an assertion. Even Jesus himself never did-But I do say, that Jesus was the Messiah-the Messenger of glad tidings-the Revealer of those moral laws which God enacted when he created man, and which man had so miserably disgraced—and that he, and he alone who obeys these laws, as enacted by the Creator and revealed by Jesus-be he outwardly a Jew or a Gentile, a Mahommedan or a Heathen-is worthy to be called a follower of Christ-a Christian."

[ocr errors][merged small]

"The God of Christians, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Eloihim, the Jehovah"-Bishop Chase's Address to the Illinois Episcopal Convention, June, 1839.

We had hoped that Unitarians had lived-down the stale slander that they do not worship "the God of Christians." It had seemed to us that a better spirit had sprung up in the hearts of our religious brethren, (alas! might we not say enemies?) who differ from us in opinion, as to the nature of God. We had flattered ourselves that the world began to think us Christians, and good practical Christians besides. At the east, the loud-mouthed

anathemas of the "Evangelical" had been hushed, perhaps as much by reason of our growing strength, as of any increase of their charity-and we supposed that we might now, without arrogance, humbly claim for our denomination the Christian name. But it seems that a little of the old leaven of uncharitableness still survives, and that the dignitaries of the Anglo-American Church are among those who either ignorantly or maliciously vilify us.

The Right Reverend Prelate who presides with so much ability over the destinies of the infant diocese of Illinois, in a late address to the Convention of that State, took occasion to refer to the Theological School lately founded by him at a place called "Robin's Nest," and in the course of his remarks, he stated the purposes for which the Institution had been founded. One of those purposes appears to have been to educate "persons of all liberal professions in the arts and sciences, provided they be willing to be taught the religion of the God of Christians, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the Elohim, the Jehovah." This is surely a most catholic system of exclusion-the unhappy Unitarian youth of Illinois cannot it seems derive any benefit from this most potential "Jubilee College" (Phoebus! what a name!) because forsooth they are not willing to be taught the religion of "the God of Christians, Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Poor benighted outcasts! they are not worthy to set their unhallowed feet upon the consecrated grounds, "the large domain," belonging to the embryo College. We earnestly hope that Cambridge* will not feel bound to retaliate, and exclude from her classic halls those who do not worship the God of Christians, "one God, even the FATHER." We should deplore such a measure exceedingly, and we call upon the trustees of that venerable Institution, to keep cool on the occasion.

The ground assumed by the Bishop of Illinois does not evince any great advance of religious liberality. It strikes us that those who so often implore the Almighty to deliver them "from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness," might be expected, at least in their public acts, to give evidence that the solemn prayer so often put up to heaven, is not mere lip-service.

We do not wish to magnify the matter in hand-it is perhaps a very small matter. "Jubilee College" is certainly nothing remarkable in itself-still less is it of consequence to Unitarians. It is the principle to which we object, and it is to be feared that the system of exclusion and proscription may be carried out in all its forms by the Episcopal Establishment in Illinois.

Cambridge University is not a Unitarian Institution, nor a Trinitarian one either, though efforts have been frequent, to make her so. Students attend at whatever Church of any denomination they choose. May Sectarianism never curse her.

VOL. VIII-69.

We respect the Episcopal Church for many things. We honor the christian spirit manifested by their system of free Baptism. We respect their toleration of open communion-their calm and temperate method of teaching their doctrine-their opposition to wild and fanatical religious excitement-the courteous deportment and learning of their clergy. But while we cheerfully bear wit ness of their many virtues, we cannot overlook the several points in their system which appear to us objectionable. We dislike that arrogant, self-sufficient spirit which boldly asserts that the Episcopal Church is the only true and Apostolic Church. This savors of the old Romish claim to infallibility, and it does not appear altogether modest in feebie men to make such lofty preWe dislike their aristocratic and arbitrary system of church government, and their exclusiveness in the pulpit. So much we may notice upon the surface of things. Their doctrines we cannot now discuss-but we will observe in passing that a Liturgy which styles "the God of Christians" "TRINITY," a name purely of human invention, and repudiated both by Calvin and Luther, embodies at least one absurdity.

tensions.

But let us ask, who is "the God of Christians?" Is He "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob?" If so, he is one God. Is He "the ONE only living and true God?" Then is he one God. Is He "the God and Father of Jesus Christ?" We worship the same God. Is He, as the Bishop asserts, "the Eloihim, the Jehovah?" If so, he is, (we had almost said) peculiarly one God. For it is in the light presented by these terms that we recognise and reverence the Almighty. Unto us "the Lord our God is ONE Lord"-the Eloihim, the Jehovah-the same who was taught by the Prophets and revealed by the Saviour-the same whom the Jews of old worshipped, and who is still worshipped by the wandering remnant of God's chosen people. If the ancient Hebrews worshipped a "Tri-une" God, (O! most unscriptural and senseless word!) is it not rational to suppose that their descendants in a direct line, and who retain the forms of worship and religious belief of their fore-fathers in the most minute particulars, would have preserved at least some tradition of a circumstance so all-essential? Yet does there not exist even a tradition of any such fact, and the Jews of the present day worship the same Deity, whom Jesus and the Prophets adored, even the Eloihim, the Jehovah. If there be truth in the Bible, such is the God of Christians. The Scriptures do not once declare that he is "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"-that he is "Trinity" or "trinity in unity," or "unity in trinity"-and surely we are not authorised to invest our Creator with attributes not taught in Scripture. Away with the doctrine which shall assert that the God of Christians is other than the God revealed in the Gospel. Admitting that the doctrine of the Trinity may be true, still, if we reject it, and worship the God revealed in the Scrip

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »