the degraded and down-trodden, by requiring that they should be treated as men, with proper sympathy and kindness, and furnished with the means of self-education, on the part of those whose position is more favorable. The great Author of Christianity was one of the people-born of poor and humble parents, brought up to labor, and all His life long associated, not with the aristocracy and the rich, but with the poor and humble. And whilst the rich and the great, for the most part turned away with scorn from His heavenly instructions, the "COMMON PEOPLE," we are told, "heard him gladly." Here is the true field for the labors of Christianity; here the true scene of its triumphs-both because the PEOPLE are the great bulk of mankind and ever will be, and because their position render them more accessible to the gospel, and is more favorable to the cultivation of piety. For it will ever remain true, that "they who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition." Whilst to the truly humble, or the "poor in spirit," is promised the "kingdom of heaven."

991

We are far from thinking that Christianity has failed to execute its proper mission as regards the people. Even before it ascended the throne of the Cæsars, it must often have restrained proconsular and prætorian insolence and injustice, and so defended the feeble against the powerful. Its bishops and priests did often, in the Middle Ages, take the part of the poor, the enslaved, the ignorant serfs and vassals, against the barons and other great proprietors; and frequently resisted even the tyranny of the prince, in their behalf. And when the Reformation brought back the true gospel to a portion of Christendom, it is certain that popular liberty began to gain a foothold in the world. From this source sprung the free institutions of Greet Britain, the struggles of our fathers for their rights, and ultimately the independence of these United States. Since that event, and as effects produced by the same cause, revolution has succeeded revolution, in the old world and the new, until the papal countries, almost without exception, have undergone very important changes. By these revolutions the people have gained much, though far from all that is their due.

But admitting all this, we must confess that Christianity has by no means achieved for the masses all that it should have done. Not from its own fault, but from the faithlessness of those who were its leaders, it has in all ages manifested too little sympathy for the masses, and too strong an affinity for the great, for the aristocracy, for the civil power. The union of the church with the state, effected by Constantine the Great, did much to destroy the independence of Christianity, and render it at once the friend and the slave of the civil power, instead of being the friend and the ! Mark 12: 36. 'Matt, 5: 3.

2 I Tim. 6: 9.

vindicator of the down-trodden people. Even Protestantism, although it has done infinitely more to raise up the masses than Romanism, has been far from fulfilling its whole duty in this respect. It wants even yet, we must say, that confidence in the masses which it owes to humanity, as well as to its Divine Author. It has been slow to learn that the "many," when rightly instructed, and deeply pervaded by its legitimate influences, are much more to be relied on than the privileged "few." And hence it has made many and very serious mistakes, whose influence has been disastrous, and whose effects it will require much time and effort to repair.

To the young men of the present Age, in particular, God has assigned an important position in the history of the world. May they study well the times in which they live, and the demands to which they are liable. Every Age has had its grand characteristics. In every Age there have been great movements which affect extensively the interests of Humanity. Our own is marked, we have already asserted, by a double struggle for political and religious Freedom. In that struggle, the young men of our Age and country must take part, each in the sphere in which God has placed him, and according to the measure of influence possessed by him. To such we would say, Enter with courage into this conflict, and hesitate not to throw the weight of your sympathy and your efforts into the scale of the People. Do all you can for their elevation, their happiness, their usefulness, their just position in society. In pursuing this course you will but follow in the footsteps of Him who "was born in a stable and died on a cross;" of Him whose claim to a heavenly mission was established by the fact that it was the "poor" to whom His gospel was preached.

But allow us to say, that to promote effectually the interests of the people, it is not necessary to become brawling political demagogues. Of them we have enough already; and they are among the greatest curses from which our country suffers. No: the friend of the people must employ his influence for their benefit in all practicable ways; encourage them in all proper efforts for improving their temporal condition; and promote the effective education of all classes. He will advocate all those measures for diffusing knowledge that require associated effort. He will be the earnest supporter of public worship; for the influence of the pulpit is, in this land of ours, of incalculable power in diffusing general information, and especially in cultivating the morals of the people, to say nothing of their spiritual interests. He will be the friend of all proper measures for reclaiming the erring, for delivering the oppressed, for raising up the fallen. He will lend his aid to render the press of our country, which is so powerful, still more efficient in behalf of every good enterprise.

We have in this country about fifteen hundred newspapers and

other periodical publications, every one of which has a sphere of greater or less extent. What an amount of aid might be given to the conducting of these periodicals, and what a powerful influence might be exerted through their pages for the instruction of the people and the good of the nation, if the well-educated men,ministers, lawyers, and others who reside in their neighborhood, would, by contributing to their columns, impart that aid and influence! It is a matter of great regret that so little real interest is felt in this subject, so little tact and facility manifested in the

matter.

We have spoken only of that influence which should be exerted in our own country. For although this country is greatly in advance of all others, as regards the twofold struggle which has been referred to, yet, if we would preserve and perfect what we possess, we have a great work to do. Our population is increasing, by natural processes, at a fearful rate, and Europe is sending to our shores vast crowds of emigrants every year. If therefore, we would avoid retrograding, we must make great exertions. But to advance, not to keep our ground, must be our object. Besides we have a high mission to fulfil, in exhibiting to the world the happy influence, as well as the stability, of our institutions, political and religious. But that influence need not, must not be confined to our own country, important as it is as a field of exertion. There is a WORLD to be blest, to be regenerated, to be saved. Can we not aid in the most effectual manner the struggle which is now going on in the old world, against the double despotism of the prince and the priest? A despotism which, wherever it exists in perfection, makes of the masses the veriest slaves, leaving them nothing to do but on the one hand to obey what they are commanded, and on the other to believe what they are taught. A despotism which deprives them of that happiness which is their right in this world, and cheats them out of that which Heaven in its mercy offers them for the next!

We can do much for the down-trodden millions, in the Old World and the new, by sending them the Bible, and employing suitable men, natives of the several countries, to carry it to those who do not possess it, to read it to those who cannot read, and to explain its sacred contents to all. We can do much to impart the blessed gospel, the best friend of the people, to the nations that are now struggling for popular liberty, but who, alas, are at present so incapable to comprehend, to acquire, or to maintain it. The gospel is, though they do not know it, the very thing they need; for it is the only hope of free institutions.

Let us leave to the politician and the man of the world, the task so easily executed, of gazing, speculating, and wondering at the movements in the Old World which are now attracting all eyes, Let ours be no barren sympathy, but a prompt an effective one

not exhibited in the noisy declamations of popular meetings, but in the overflowings of a heart full of love to our fellow-men, and prompting to earnest prayer and efficient effort in their behalf.

ARTICLE V.

REVIEW OF FINNEY'S THEOLOGY.

By REV. GEORGE DUFFIELD, D.D., Detroit, Michigan.

Lectures on Systematic Theology, embracing Lectures on Moral Government, Atonement, Moral and Physical Depravity, Regeneration, Philosophical Theories and Evidences of Regeneration. By REV. C. G. FINNEY, Professor of Theology, in the Oberlin Collegiate Institute.

(Concluded from p. 746, last volume.)

MORAL AND PHYSICAL DEPRAVITY.

THE main issue to be met on this point is very simple. Is there any tendency, bias, inclination, or disposition, call it what you please, whether simple or complex, negative or positive, which operates, with determining influence, as a cause or reason why men, uniformly and invariably, in all the appropriate circumstances of their nature, choose to do evil? Does the existence of such a causative influence determining to sin, imply a physical necessity and impair the freedom of the will appropriate to man as a moral agent? Our author, virtually, if not explicitly, denies the former and affirms the latter. Some, in affirming the former, may have erred in their illustrations, calling it taste or instinct, and comparing it with that which renders the serpent venomous, the tiger ferocious, the canine and feline tribe carnivorous, and the like; and they may have prosaically or poetically expressed themselves so as to be obnoxious to the charge of believing or teaching, that there flows a poisonous lues, from parent to child, or there exists a fever in the blood, or some physical entity, which is sinful per se. But to avoid an error in this extreme, must we run so far to the other as to deny all causative influence determining to sin, and insist that freedom of will consists alone in absolute sovereignty and independence? Our author says explicitly, "Moral depravity is sin itself, and not the cause of sin;" nor, of course, a cause of sin; which is in effect to resolve all moral depravity into acts of will, and rebuke the common sense notions of mankind, who distinguish between a state of the affections and passions affecting the will, and the acts of the will, and predicate moral depravity of both in given cases. Dr. Dwight will not

give a name to that specific particular state of the affections, &c., which determines the will to sin-which, in other words, renders it pleasant and agreeable to sin, which finds enjoyment in this and the other thing God forbids, and is pained and affected with aversion by that which He requires. But that such a state exists, and is culpable, men almost universally assume; and they generally estimate the degree of a man's moral depravity, by the degree of satisfaction experienced in doing wrong, and of aversion to doing what is right. In estimating moral depravity, we must not confine our attention to the volition, choice, purpose, or ultimate intention merely; but embrace also the feeling of pleasure or satisfaction had in doing wrong, and of pain or aversion to do what is right. We think, speak, and judge of it as the working of a mind, will, and heart, or affections and passions averse from God, and unaffected by His love, or regard for Him-which finds its satisfaction in opposing His will, and not in doing it. So the Scriptures describe it, and call it "enmity against God," which from the very first is morally certain to manifest itself in all the

ráce.

Our author may say that this is but what he means by selfishness, or that it means nothing more. We are willing, for the sake of argument, to admit it. But in analyzing that selfishness, in resolving it into its constituent elements, we differ widely from him, and believe, that to describe it as consisting wholly in generic purpose, ultimate intention and choice, operating in successive executive volitions, will not tell all the truth, nor will it help the matter to make self-gratification the end on which choice terminates. For the question comes back, and must be met and satisfactorily answered by our author, before he is done with his analysis of moral depravity, why do men, universally and invariably, from the very first, find their pleasure in gratifying self, and not in doing the will of God, in pleasing self rather than in pleasing God? What is it, in other words, that uniformly from the first, makes man choose self-gratification as the ultimate end, instead of "the good of God and the universe?" We answer, that such is the condition in which we are born into this world, such the derangement of our moral powers, and the original moral constitution of the race produced by the sin and apostasy of our first parents, that selfishness is natural to man. It ensues by virtue of our connection with, and descent from, a guilty progenitor, that under whatever circumstances we may be born, in all the appropriate conditions of our being, sin will be preferred to holiness-man will find it more natural and agreeable to serve himself than to serve God. And of man thus related, affected, and conditioned, we predicate moral depravity.

Our author ascribes the uniformity and universality of sinful choice, "to the influence of temptation, or to a physically-depraved THIRD SERIES, VOL. V., No. 1.

7