apprehend, that unless there appear a palpable and gross deviation from the true import of the original, when compared with parallel texts; and this after a very careful and conscientious inquiry; little benefit, or rather much injury, will arise to mankind, by proposing alterations in the generally received and approved translation. In the present day especially, pretenders to religious information are SO much more common than disciples in Christian principles and practice, that in order to repress the vanity which too often arises from knowledge when unaccompanied with piety, I would earnestly recommend a candid and liberal construction of the received translation rather than the adoption of new readings and latitudinarian conjectures.

A moment's consideration will be sufficient to show, that it is necessary to guard very carefully against any infringement upon the character of the Scriptures, as now publicly authorized and distributed.

If a doubt is suffered to exist respecting the general truth and faithfulness of the translation, it will tend to loosen that just and proper confidence which now forms the basis of the hopes and joys of many unlearned but pious minds, and may, perhaps, eventually lead to the admission of flagrant deviations from the true import of the most plain and obvious passages.

I might, perhaps, be justified in referring to page 346 in your last volume; and, while pointing to the weight of learning and piety engaged in the received translation of the Bible, might fairly deduce this conclusion, that the host of great and good men there on record, though fallible like ourselves, and by no means possessing our advantages, cannot be supposed to have fallen into many errors of such magnitude as to render it necessary that the correction of them should be attempted, even at

the risk of endangering the safety of that invaluable treasure which we bave the happiness to possess.

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Having thus adverted generally to this subject, I would, with all possible respect for the learning and research of your correspondent H. S. take occasion to observe, that while the translation of the passage in Genesis, which be proposes to adopt, appears, at first sight, to convey a meaning very different from what has been generally received, the real sentiment of the original text is, in fact, neither lost sight of nor misapprebended in our present mode of reading. "And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." (Gen. xxii. 14.) As if it were said, "According to the current observation, made on this remarkable transaction to this day, or, agreeably with the generally received opinion, founded thereon, and in use at the time of Moses, that where faith in the promises of God is exercised, a corresponding provision, as heretofore, in the mount of the Lord, will be seen or experienced as it respects the recipient; or will be provided, as it respects the Agent or Giver." This will appear to be a sentiment, naturally intended to be recorded, by the grateful, and obedient Patriarch, when he affixed a name to the place where he had received so signal a mark of the approbation of his Lord, and had obtained by his constancy the name of "the father of the faithful.”

In support of this opinion, I beg leave to cite the Latin translation of the same passage, together with the translation used by the French Protestants, in both which, the verbs providere, and pourvoir, seem properly adapted, by their etymological signification, to convey the full and enlarged sentiment of the text. "Propterea vocavit Abraham nomen loci illius, Jehova providebit: ex quo dici solet

To the Editor of the Christian Observer. THE term Charity is so frequently misapplied; it is so often appealed to as an indefinite principle of action, while its genuine influence is but little understood and exemplified; it is so vaguely, unreasonably, and unscripturally extended by some, and so narrowed and constricted by others, that I trust I shall be forgiven for attempting to review the limits which should define its influence on the heart of the Christian.

Real charity will ever be found active, exactly in proportion as the great truths of Christianity exert their prevailing tendencies on the character of the individual. Our Lord instructs his disciples in the duty of cultivating this loveliest of Christian graces; not as an occasional act, or as the natural impulse of excited feeling, but as the constant disposition of a truly renovated heart.

Since, however, the truths of the Gospel are destined to pass through media so differing as the minds of men, we cannot expect a perfect coincidence of opinion. In different individuals, the habits of thought and action are so dissimilar, that we must not be surprised when we observe those who think at all often forming conclusions the most opposite from nearly the same premises. The object of the present remarks is to ascertain how far the

principle of Christian charity may and ought to be extended in such cases, so as to preserve a perfect standard of rectitude on the one band, and yet not destroy the unity of Christian society on the other.

to the

The exercise of charity does not require, and certainly must not involve, a dereliction of principle. This would be to destroy at once uprightness of character, and to blend the prominent and distinctive features of truth in one indiscriminate mass of confuted and heterogeneous opinions. In principles so important as those which regulate our affections and direct our conduct, it is necessary that our views be precise and well defined, and that our judgment be duly informed on those points which concern our own and our neighbour's welfare. We must be enabled to appeal with confidence standard of truth, the holy Scriptures, for the rectitude of our motives, and the consistency of our practice. At the same time, we must be careful not to confound prejudice with principle. We are too frequently disposed, from partial consideration and hasty reflection, to form erroneous conclusions: and from the constant habit of acting upon these determinations they are so interwoven with all our ideas, they are so perpetually awakened by a thousand different associations, and they become at length so congenial with our feelings, that we readily mistake what is, in effect, the offspring of prejudice, for the logical deductions of the most correct principle. Besides this, we are so much the creatures of circumstance and association, that we are perpetually liable to confound our impressions and feelings with the results of deliberate judgment. We imbibe many prejudices during the progress of education; some of which, doubtless, may prove essentially useful, and become most properly permanent and stable principles of conduct; but since our education is conducted by those who are

themselves far short of perfection, and are exposed like others to the influence of prejudice, it is manifest that some useless bias, some hurtful obliquity, will almost necessarily be impressed upon the character. Against this effect we should sedulously guard, and carefully avoid mistaking its silent influence for the dictates of reason and reflection.

But though charity does not involve a dereliction of principle, yet it surely requires that even our principles, those secret motives of our conduct which ought to be uniformly acted upon, should not be rendered ostentatiously prominent, so as to disgust where they can do no good. I do not say we are to keep our sentiments out of sight: far from it; we must be ever ready to inculcate and defend them; but charity demands that we should avoid that narrow spirit which cannot endure the slightest difference of opinion. We should even, I conceive, cheerfully make those little sacrifices of feeling which will induce us sometimes to be silent, and to bear with the prejudice, the ignorance, and the intolerance of others, rather than suffer charity to be wounded in an angry and hopeless contest against inveterate obstinacy and bigoted prepossession.

In these remarks I allude only to points of confessedly minor importance. There are some grand principles of Divine Revelation which charity cannot allow to be compromised: there are some cardinal truths, the very soul and substance of religion, which we cannot for a moment yield without depreciating them: which we cannot overlook, without tacitly questioning their importance; and which we dare not abandon, unless we are prepared to admit the perfect indifference of that momentous inquiry, "What is truth?" But the mischief is, that even those who agree in their interpretation of the principal doctrines of Christianity-because

they chance to differ on some minuter points, the reception or rejection of which has been identified with the well-being of a party-too often make the latter their standard of real piety, and contend for them with more vehemence than for those truths which are allowed on all bands to be necessary to salvation. Thus it often happens, that men who quarrel with a test, under other circumstances, erect a test of admission to their own little society, -a test not of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only propitiation and satisfaction for the sins of his people, but of implicit adherence to the peculiarities of a sect. I have often admired the candour of our church, whose doctrinal views, though clear and scriptural, are yet so charitably framed as to include and reconcile many of these zealous disputants: indeed, on this very subject of church discipline, Christian charity, I imagine, demands a kind of tolerating spirit. It happens not unfrequently, that those who coincide in their views of Divine Revelation, will still differ about the peculiar form of ecclesiastical government and regulations. Certainly, candour requires, in this case, the subserviency of individual prejudices to the paramount claims of our common faith. Our opinions on such subjects, even though correct, must not be erected into principles upon which it would be criminal to be silent. Something, surely, must be left to every man's conscience; especially as the church of Christ has undeniably existed under different external forms; and it is probable, (I speak at least my own sentiments,) that the point was left indeterminate, in order that ecclesiastical discipline might be variously modified, according to the existing circumstances of the civil governments with which Christianity should become connected. Other persons may and do think differently; and I can readily

brethren, whose views on such subjects may be opposed to my own. Humility, as well as charity, requires that we should tolerate the opinions of others; for we should recollect, that man is a fallen creature, and that on this side the grave his views are obscured, and his perceptions rendered inaccurate, by the influence of his alienation from God, and his natural bias to evil. He is not perfect; nor can we wonder, therefore, if his perverted judgment should frequently hurry him into error. Remembering our own weakness, and liability to misconception and prejudice,we should learn to retain our opinions with gentleness, though with firmness, and to combat what we conceive to be the prejudices of others, with decision, as to our own views, but with a tender regard to the feelings of our brother.

Charity demands the exercise of love to those who differ from us. We must not look on them with a jealous eye; we must not be captiously disposed to question their sincerity: we must not blazon their follies, or hold up to ridicule their prejudices. We must go with them so far as we can tread on common and scriptural ground; and when our opinions diverge, supposing the divergency not to be of a fatal kind, we must still "wish them God speed;" assured that though in nonessentials we disagree, we have yet the same Saviour for our confidence, we are engaged in the service of the same Master, and hope to arrive at the same heaven hereafter. If our neighbour be a true Christian, we are bound to love him as such, by whatever name he may be named.

χῆρος.

FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CII.

Psalm civ. 34.-My meditation of Him shall be sweet.

Or all the duties which become professed Christians, there is none more usually neglected among men

in general, than that of calm and deliberate reflection upon the concerns of religion. We observe persons constantly frequenting the house of God, and seeming for the moment to have some knowledge and enjoyment of those things which relate to their eternal peace, yet forgetting almost instantly what they have heard, and suffering the sacred impression to be effaced almost as soon as it was formed. While we pray that we may " read, mark, and learn" the holy Scriptures, we too often forget so inwardly to "digest" them, that they may conduce to our spiritual nourishment, and strengthen us for our heavenly warfare. If we have any pretence to the name of Christian, the neglect of an outward duty, the omission of our customary devotions, or of attendance on public worship, the breach of the Divine command "to do good and to distribute," the indulgence of unhallowed tempers, or the stirring of worldly or sensual desire, will be followed by proper feelings of sorrow and repentance,accompanied with prayer to God for pardon and assistance: yet amidst all, perhaps, we neglect that especial means of grace which, in many cases, is one of the most useful of all for preventing a recurrence of the evil; we mean religious meditation. And assuredly if it be a sin not to read the Scriptures, and attend public worship, it is a sin also not to treasure up and revolve in our hearts those sacred truths which we have received; not to endeavour, by serious reflection, when in private, to turn them, by the blessing of God, to a practical account.

For the purpose of impressing upon our minds the duty under consideration, let us view

I. The proper objects of spiritual meditation.

II. The benefits resulting from it. III. The best method of promoting and conducting it.

1. The proper objects of spiritual meditation are the truths re