and holy emotion, considered merely in itself, is of great worth. But how much greater must its worth appear, when we consider, that it has a tendency to perpetuate itself; that it exerts an influence which, instead of passing away with the moment, will naturally extend into all future time, and contribute to form a character permanently and unalterably holy-a possession of greater value to a moral being than all the creation beside. Duly impressed with this view of the train of happy consequences likely to flow from right affections, we should crave them as the choicest of all blessings, and should open our hearts wide to give them room. We should guard most assiduously against every thing without us and within us, which would in any way hinder or diminish their happy influence; and we should, above all, continually look in fervent prayer to the Father of our spirits, the fountain of holiness, that he would fill us with all pure and heavenly affections. Equally salutary must be the effect of our considering the influence of sinful affection upon our subsequent state. With what watchful care should we avoid every unholy emotion, if we remembered, that it is a disease of the soul, hard to be cured; that when admitted into the mind, it takes such hold of our moral nature, as will be likely to insure its continuance; and that every operation of this hateful distemper naturally increases its strength, and renders it more fatal. We are here taught how to account for that low, earthly state of mind, that distance from God, that spiritual blindness and death, which we so often have occasion to deplore. This state is not to be considered separately, but in connection with its causes. It is in a great measure to be traced to what has been faulty in us in times past. Every sinful feeling which we have heretofore exercised, has left its stamp upon our hearts. That moral state which we lament, is to be regarded as resulting chiefly from the general current of our moral feelings in past time. Every vain thought, every proud, resentful, or unkind feeling, every corrupt desire, which has lodged within us, has had an influence not limited to the time when it took place, but reaching to all following time, and helping to constitute our permanent habit of mind. Thus our present condition may truly be regarded as a kind of index to the antecedent states of our mind, the sum of the impressions made upon us by the af fections we exercised the previous moment, the previous hour, and day, and month, and year, and all previous time. How often have we learned by experience, that our feelings through the week have an effect upon us on the Sabbath, and our feelings on the Sabbath, through the week? How evident it is that the thoughts and feelings indulged in childhood and youth have an effect upon character, which is visible in manhood, and even in old age! The wrong states of mind of which we are at present conscious, and which may sometimes appear unaccountable, are, in many cases, to be traced back to what took place ten, twenty, or even fifty years ago. And it is not to be doubted, that the state in which the wicked will find themselves in the future world, will be the fair result of all their dispositions, thoughts, affections and desires, during the time of their probation. With what awe should we be inspired, when we contemplate this constitution, which God has given to our immortal minds! With what fear and trembling should we consider the fact, that an unholy affection, exercised in early childhood, yea, at the very commencement of our moral being, will certainly be followed by a sinful, impenitent life, and a sinful and miserable eternity, unless the sovereign grace of God interpose to turn things from their natural course. Should we wake up to just apprehensions of this subject, how deeply should we be impressed with the evil of sin, not merely as it consists in a wrong state of mind, and as it is attended with unhappiness at the time of its occurrence; but as tending, according to the moral constitution of man, to draw after it endless pollution and misery! Considered in this light, every sinful emotion which rises in the heart is an evil of fearful magnitude, spreading a pestilential influence over the whole of our existence. Surely then, no degree of vigilance or resolution against sin can be too great. It is better to forego any present pleasure, or endure any extremity of suffering, and even to sacrifice life itself, than to take this deadly poison into our souls. Entertaining these views of the subject, with what amazement as well as grief should we look upon the multitude of rational beings around us, who live without concern, and with apparent satisfaction, in the midst of the most dreadful plague which ever seized on man, and who are so stricken with madness, that they often seem to be the more pleased, as they exhibit more visible and certain symptoms of eternal death! Finally, This examination respecting the connexion which the affections have among themselves, has clearly shown, that mental philosophy, rightly understood, conducts us to conclusions perfectly coincident with the dictates of holy writ. ART. III. INVARIABLENESS OF THE DOCTRINES OF CHRIS- [NOTE.-The original discourse of which the following is a translation, was delivered at the commencement of the annual session of the Theological School at Geneva, 1st of May, 1834, and printed at the request of the Evangelical Society of that city. It is here inserted both on account of the intrinsic interest of the subject, and as an argument for that closer union, towards which the minds of many Christians are now turned. Such an outward union as is to be desired, must depend upon the inward agreement of Christians in the essential doctrines of our religion, as its first condition. If this agreement is found to exist in the great body of Christians, in all ages, (which it is the object of this discourse to show, and which might be inferred from the very nature of Christian piety,) then it would seem right that this agreement should be recognized in some general creed, and strengthened by some outward bond. Whatever importance may be attached to the speculative differences which have always existed among Christians, these differences cannot be allowed to justify the breaking of this bond, except so far as they affect the essential points of Christian doctrine. Of the various theories respecting Christianity, some are more true, and deserve accordingly to be earnestly contended for, in opposition to others which are less conformed to the nature of religion. These various theories result from the various intellectual habits, and the various outward circumstances of Christians, or from the various degrees of knowledge and piety to which they have attained; and are therefore always likely to exist. They furnish the appropriate exercise for the high virtues of forbearance, toleration, and charity, which otherwise would have no place. They ought not, indeed, to be regarded with indifference; on the contrary they should awaken the most lively interest, as matters both of philosophical enquiry, and of practical moment. But to make them the nucleus of separate ecclesiastical organizations, and the condition of Christian fellowship, is to sacrifice the great practical advantages resulting from the outward unity of the Church, in behalf of a speculative uniformity of opinion on unessential points, which is of little importance, impossible to be realized, and perhaps hardly to be desired. On this subject we would urge upon the candid attention of our readers the enquiries of Bishop Smith, in his communication on Christian Union, in our last Number. "Was it wise," he asks, "to attempt to add to the brief, general, comprehensive creeds, by which, down to the time of the Reformation, Christians were content to regulate their faith? Has any thing been gained by spinning out the standards of faith into all the more minute ramifications of metaphysical and polemic theology? May not the thousand-and-one splits amongst Protestant Christians, on points of doctrine, be mainly traced to this fundamental mistake? Agreement in essentials and freedom in unessentials, is a wise axiom. Has it been the leading axiom of doctrinal sects? The knife which divides the polypus cannot be more prolific, than that knife which has been so much in use, in cutting off every member from the Church who differed in any thought from some standard, by which the operator has been pleased to try his opinions. An unnatural effort to keep men's minds pared close, in order to conform to a particular creed, has led to more numerous and far wider departures from it, than could otherwise have taken place." As to the translation here offered,-it was commenced before we were informed that a translation of the same discourse had been made for the last Number of the Quarterly Observer, and was partly in type before that Number reached us. EDITOR.] The Church dispersed throughout the world announces this faith; she teaches it, she transmits it, as if she had only one mouth; for although the modes of expression in different places are diverse, yet is the force of the truth which is delivered ONE, and always the same: even as the sun, that work of God, is one and the same throughout the universe.-Irenæus, Advers. Hæreses, L. I. c. 3. How great is that activity, how diverse the labours, the efforts, which men are exhibiting upon the earth! But time passes its level over the greater part of their works. Even should they attempt to raise a tower to the heavens, the summits are cast down, and after a few generations, mingled with the sands of the desert. There is nothing here below which is stable, except Christianity. This alone is immutable, like its Author. It is that Rock of Ages against which still new waves have ever broken, and will always break, without having power to shake it. If, then, there is any one who would give to his work on earth a character of stability and permanence, let him attach it to Christianity. His work will then receive from the eternal religion an impress of immortality. These, however, are not truths which are universally received. On this subject there are two great errours among VOL. II. 75 men. Some pretend that there is nothing immutable, even in the essence of Christianity. "The Christian doctrine," say they, "is only a particular form of the religious sentiment. This form has taken the place of an antecedent form, and will itself be succeeded by another. The Religion of the Saviour," they add, "must necessarily have proceeded from the state in which mankind was found, at the time of the Cæsars," just as buds and blossoms spring naturally from a tree in spring-time. A strange errour to which Rationalism is, indeed, obliged to resort, but which is most strikingly refuted by history. No! Christianity is not a mere human appearance! History, that infallible witness, exhibits it to us, not in accordance with, but in direct opposition, to the different directions of the human mind, at the time when it appeared. The wisdom of the world did not give it birth, but on the contrary sought to crush it. Christianity was not the child of that period, but at once its adversary and its regenerator. It was not from the dust of the earth that this precious fruit grew; it cannot then return to the dust. Heaven at that moment gave to the earth an incorruptible treasure, which successive generations are bound to transmit unimpaired from hand to hand; which we, in our turn, have received; which we now hold with fear and reverence in earthen vessels; which we shall soon deliver to our children, and which will abide unaltered among men, until heaven and earth shall flee away, and no place be found for them. But while on one side we encounter the imaginations of the levellers of Christianity, we meet on the other the pretensions of an inflexible dogmatism, which would assign to the Christian system during the whole continuance of the Church, an appearance constantly uniform. Something there is in Christianity which does not change; that is, its essence: but there is in it, too, something which changes; which is, its appearance. And it is for want of properly discriminating between the appearance and the reality, that so many have misunderstood the invariable nature of the religion of Jesus Christ. A man changes in appearance through the different ages of his life. He is, however, always the same man. At the moment when Christianity was given to us from on high, it became necessary that, like every thing else which enters into the sphere of humanity, it should be clothed with a human form. The exteriour circumstances of each epoch |