such a declaration escape the charge of absurdity? Either churches possess this power, or they do not. If they do, their use of it is valid under the circumstances we have mentioned, or any other. If it be only a kind of quasi power, which they are to be flattered with the notion of holding, but which it is understood they are not to employ, they are welcome to the privilege, though we fail to see the utility of teaching such a doctrine.

The author has placed at the end of his book an appendix, which ought not to pass unnoticed. The chief part of it is employed in furnishing the most approved forms for all the letters missive which a church has any occasion to write. These letters are drawn up with simplicity and brevity, and may be recommended as models, to those who hold the office of clerks in our churches, and on whom devolves the duty of conducting the correspondence with other ecclesiastical bodies. The writing of a neat and appropriate letter missive for the purpose of calling a council, for example, is by no means a common attainment. Not unfrequently, in such a document, the most important part is omitted, which consists in explicitly stating the object for which the council is to be assembled, and about which they are requested to deliberate. Or if this object be stated, the language is so indefinite as covers the subject with obscurity, and necessarily leads to discussion, upon a point about which there ought to be no dispute, namely, wherefore they are come together. In these letters, another defect is also very common. We mean the omission to mention the churches which are conjointly invited to send their delegates to the council. By most this seems to be thought unnecessary. But for obvious reasons it is important. When a church is invited to take part in any deliberation, or aid in adjusting any difficulty, it has a right to know beforehand with whom it is to be associated in such business. The case is not impossible, that it might be called to co-operate in a council composed in part of churches with which it refuses. to acknowledge Christian fellowship. Should such a case. occur, the alternative would be equally unpleasant, either to withdraw, or to proceed in the deliberation. The former course would be deemed invidious, the latter would injure its own conscience. An effectual preventive of each difficulty, is the enumeration in the letters missive

of all the churches invited to attend. It then appoints its delegates, with a full knowledge of all the circumstances of the case.

We now dismiss the book, hoping that it may be useful, as it certainly will be, if it prove the means of directing the attention of the religious public to so important a subject as that of Ecclesiastical Polity, and multiply the number of those who favor a republican form of government in our churches.

ARTICLE VI.

A MANLY CHARACTER UPON THE BASIS OF A SPIRITUAL FAITH.

Counsels to Young Men on the Formation of Character, and the Principles which lead to Success and Happiness in Life; being Addresses principally delivered at the Anniversary Commencements in Union College. By ELIPHALET NOTT, D. D., President of Union College. New York. Harper & Brothers. 1841. pp. 312.

To introduce the subject which we propose to discuss, we have placed at the head of this article the title of a work written by a scholar who, as presiding officer in one of our seats of learning, has had the most favorable opportunity for observation on the subjects of which it treats. Without going into a critical examination of this work, we may observe, in passing, that its sound principles, good counsels and glowing eloquence will amply reward the reader for the labor, or rather pleasure, of a patient perusal. It were easy to occupy our pages with comments upon the several topics which have passed under our notice in reading the volume before us, but we prefer, for this time, to pursue a more independent course of thought, and to choose our own way while laboring in the same line with our author.

The Romans designated those higher qualities which in their estimation constituted a manly character, by the

term Vir-tus, from which our word virtue is derived. And, being a martial people, and awarding their highest honors to military prowess, they applied this word to able generals, as if bravery and skill in war constituted him who possessed these qualities a man, in the highest sense of that noble designation. This was the pagan view of manliness. But Christianity entertains views of manliness widely different. It regards a manly character not as consisting in mere personal courage or skill,-not in the development of any one quality of the mind, however noble that quality may be; but in the full assemblage of all those qualities, which, in their due proportions and harmonies, constitute the perfection of human nature. Christian manliness is the complete and noble model of a man,—of a man aspiring to the fullest development of his being, reaching forth after the sublime ends for which his Creator called him into life. In him you behold that true love which unites his heart to God and man, to truth and goodness, which blends with his whole character, as the fragrance of the blooming earth blends with the summer air, and modifies all his sympathies, his sentiments, and his acts. You behold in him a stern, unyielding obedience to the law of conscience,-a lofty independence, arising from an abiding sense of individual responsibility, -an active, liberalizing intelligence,-elevated purposes,with the power of pursuing them through temptations and adversities, and an unfaltering confidence in God, and in the ultimate triumph of truth and rectitude. These are marks of Christian manliness, embracing the whole being of man, and directing its culture to ends worthy of his immortal nature.

Such is the character which properly springs from a spiritual faith. "Add to your faith virtue," the complete character of a man, was the emphatic exhortation of an inspired apostle. Nor is this addition of a manly character, a matter separate and distinct from that faith to which it is to be added. Whatever the Christian precepts enjoin, the Christian spirit itself naturally produces. This manly character is the spontaneous product of a wellgrounded, well-cherished, and controlling faith. As the seed cast into the earth, and germinating there, gathers to itself from the soil and air whatever it may convert into its

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own nature, and, according to a law within itself, grows up into the stock, the branches, and the mature and perfect plant, so faith in the soul, implanted and nourished by the Spirit, working there and springing forth after its own law, except in so far as its development is obstructed. by the follies and sins of its possessor, manifests itself in the formation of a manly character. The believer arrives at the stature of a man in Christ Jesus.

It should here be observed, how important it is that we take no superficial views of that religious element from which so much is expected to spring forth. Faith is not the mere assent of one's convictions to the truth of Christianity as a system of religion. Nor is it to be confounded with that sincere and conscientious regard for Christianity which many a correct mind entertains, where there yet fails to be a surrender of the whole soul to Christ. That faith implies all this is true, but faith is more. It includes that new spiritual life of which so much is said in the New Testament, and which is declared to be essential to the Christian character. He is regarded as a believer, in whose soul this new life exists; the characteristics of faith are the characteristics of this new life. Whatever, therefore, in the highest sense of the terms, is embraced in a new birth, a new creation, a transition from death unto life, is embraced in the term, spiritual faith, as used in this article.

This is the religious element whose influence in the formation and development of a manly character we are now to trace. Springing forth in the heart of man, to use a figure borrowed from another, like a genial spring beneath a pile of snow, it melts the mass above it into its own nature,its current ever widening as it goes.

This inward principle assists in the formation and development of a manly character, first of all, by correcting the affections. We need not dwell upon the fact, that correct affections are essential to a manly character. Human nature, of whose constitution the affections are an important element, is degraded when these are chilled in their fountain, and indifference, moroseness, and misanthropy are engendered,-degraded, too, when, torn from worthy objects, they are fixed on such as are low and forbidden; and human nature is at once exalted and

ennobled, when the affections are duly cultivated, and given with full and constant hearts, to those lofty objects which are worthy of our love. Now to this cultivation and direction of the affections faith most signally tends. It purifies the heart, and presents to it those high and holy objects to which a purified heart at once and instinctively yields its love. In the heart where faith is duly cherished, and where it is allowed to work its natural results, will be found the true love of God and man, going forth to God in worship, to man in sympathy and benevolence; the love of truth and goodness, of every thing in the wide universe to which a true love may be given. It pervades his being, imparting somewhat of itself to the whole man. It is the life-current of his spirit. Even a slight attention to this point must have shown, that the correcting of the affections is an engrossing object of the Christian system, that its precepts and agencies are especially directed to this end., So emphatically is this true, that love is declared to be not merely a Christian characteristic, but the Christian's very being: "Whosoever loveth is born of God." It seeks by this means, among others, to restore him to the true dignity of his nature, to exalt him to fellowship with the unfallen above, and to reimpress upon his soul the image of the Holy One whose nature is love. If any one, therefore, would seek correct affections as an element of a manly character, let him receive to his heart and cherish that inward principle in which true piety

consists.

This principle in the soul also assists in the formation. and development of a manly character, by promoting obedience to the law of conscience. That obedience to the law of conscience is an essential trait of a manly character, is most apparent. The law of conscience is the inward revelation of the law of God, the bidding of that inward voice which sternly commands the right and prohibits the wrong, and which, rising above the tumult of interest, passion and fear, making no compromise with evil, requires obedience in the face of danger and of death. He that yields obedience to this law as the rule of his life, in whom the idea of duty prevails over every other consideration, presents an essential and distinguishing mark of a manly character. He stands erect, in the true dignity