happy divisions that now exist among christians, and, though we have done somewhat towards separating the unfortunate compound, we still retain enough of the old leaven of metaphysics, to corrupt every combination of religious thought and action which is of a more recent date. Man is slow in being cured of an evil, to which he has become habituated. But amid the breaking up of old systems, where our times seem to have fallen, there is no class with whom we have more sympathy than those, who, gifted with a power of independent thinking, and smitten with a love of truth in its simple garb, are still compelled, by the peculiarity of their situation, to conform to obsolete modes of expression. They are somewhat in the condition of men, who are obliged for some cause, to appear abroad in the costume of a hundred years ago, when in heart they are ashamed of the old fashion and devoted to the new. The creeds now extant, as the basis of most of the religious organizations, were framed in the foggy days of metaphysics, and are by no means suited to the combinations of religious thought, which have sprung up since those days passed away. And now, to be under the necessity of making these old Procustean bedsteads, the exact measure of their thinking, puts all the nerves of their invention upon the rack. But, wo be to them, if they bring to view a thought whose dimensions do not exactly suit the measure: all the dupes of the old creed are out upon them, and such castigations as they receive, both in the church and the press, are enough to terrify any man of ordinary nerve, back to the old haunt of the metaphysics. His heresy becomes a subject of solemn debate among reverend divines, who, if they do not breathe out their antique notions “in nasal twang," "Heard at conventicle where worthy men do infinitely more to torture the feelings, by their obsolete reasonings. Before one should submit to be thus handled, he might better cut loose from all his moorings, and launch out into the open sea of truth, with only such means of guiding his course as he might find among the primary elements of religious knowledge. But we need not be particular in our details. It is sufficient to say, that since the explosion of old theories, their broken fragments, in ten thousand unaccountable forms, are flying in their random courses, with continual collisions among themselves, and without leaving the least ground to conjecture the final result. We trust, however, that good sense and piety will ultimately prevail, and that men will yet be induced to give up all systems and all theories, except those which may be fairly educed, by an inductive treatment of the unadulterated word of God. The wars and fightings, which have resulted from the union of abstruse philosophy with religion, have been connected with a vast exhaustion of the resources of the church,-resources that ought to have been used for her own spiritual advancement and the subjection of this lost world to her sovereign Lord. Nor is there the least hope of a final adjustment between her conflicting interests, so that she may throw her undivided energies into the work of propogating her faith, till this unnatural union is dissolved. And who among us, brethren, that looks at facts, will, not only cordially consent to such a dissolution, but will exert himself to bring it about? Have not the offspring of this nuptial affinity, been sufficiently refractory and unmanageable, to occasion unmingled joy at the prospect of a final divorce? Let theology stand on the plain basis of revealed truth and the workings of the moral sense, and it will occupy a position, against which no weapons can be brought to bear, but those of sophistry and falsehood. Permit us therefore to en treat you, brethren, to cease from these abstruse admixtures, and confine yourselves to whatever is plain, practical, and salutary to the interests of piety and salvation. "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." SECTION VII. Resting our understanding of the statements of the Bible, not upon philological investigation, but upon our sense of what would be adapted to subserve the best results. We have already observed, that while revelation in some points, receives collateral support from nature, in others, it is thrown wholly upon its own resources. This is the case, not only with those more sublime truths, which relate to the origin, progress and final consummation of the Mediatorial reign, but also, with the less important question, concerning the adorning of visible rites in which the church is to invest herself. Few points have been more prolific in debate than this; none at this moment does more to separate between very friends; and we fear it will be the last controversy of which we shall be able to effect an adjustment. Adhering to our determination not to espouse the cause of any particular sect, our remarks must be general, and bear alike upon each; though we hope they may not prove wholly useless. How far our thoughts upon the degree of uniformity which the gospel is adapted to produce, may have a bearing upon this subject, we do not pretend to judge. That we are all wrong, in many things attending the progress of this controversy, we have not the least doubt. And if we were to put on sackcloth, and cast dust upon our heads for the sins we have committed in it, we should make a much greater advance towards union, than by the endless multiplication of our controversial literature. But, so intent are all sides, upon a victory by storm, that they cannot wait for their mutual prejudices to die away, before they renew the assault; and thus, while each triumphs in his own estimation, each is whetted to the unceasing war. ing one of those wars, in which there is neither conquest nor defeat, therefore, we see no hope of a termination, so long as prosecuted on the principles which now govern us. Be As the external adorning of religion, has ever been deemed by our heavenly Father, an object worthy of special enactment and provision, it is certainly deserving of a most prayerful and dispassionate attention, on the part of his people. It has pleased him to invest his worship, in each of the dispensations, with a visible garb, adapted to leave an impression of greater or less vividness upon the bodily senses. Under the Hebrew Theocracy, it left no sense unassailed; but made its appeals to the soul, through all its avenues of communication with the material universe. Nothing can be conceived more imposing, that the rites through which, from an infant of eight days old, to the latest period of his expiring life, the lineal descendant of Abraham was conducted in worshipping the Creator. Borne to the temple on the arms of his parents, at the earliest period of his recollection, and there made familiar with scenes, which no man could witness without being overcome, "As with an object that excels the sense," the impression ever after remained among the choicest recollections of his halcyon years. Nothing can be conceived more imposing than the rites of the temple worship. Sublimities producing fear, by all that is profound and terrible in invisible power, were about equally blended with beauty and loveliness; that the suppliants, while won by the attractions of the scene, might be awed into humility, contrition, and adoration. The different orders of priests ministering before the Lord in their splendid livery; the victims burning upon the altar,from which savory vapor floated upon the breezes, skirting the brow of the neighboring mountains with beautiful festoons gilded often, no doubt, by the sun's rays; the sound of the golden bells connected with the high priests robes, as he entered the holy of holies, with the halfuttered, and half-suppressed ejaculations of ten thousand hearts, pleading with God that their offering might be accepted, and their sins forgiven; the perfume from the altar of incense, and the golden censers of the priests impregnating the air far and near with delicious odors; ; in addition to the vast concourse made up of all the males of the nation, filling the courts of the temple and extending far off in the distance, like a forest of moving trees-Oh, such were the outlines of grandeur and beauty which marked a scene that was yearly repeated before the admiring and enraptured view of God's ancient people. And it was a scene of which their memory and imagination took an impression that no change of succeeding years could efface. The Jew, though dying on foreign shores, amid adverse fortunes and profane associates, would wipe the clammy sweat from his feverish temples, turn his face towards Jerusalem, pour out his expiring prayer, and shed a tear at the remembrance of its solemn feast-days. How worthy of a divine original, was this shadowy adorning of religion in a shadowy dispensation! As this visible apparatus, however, was merely a type of good things to come, and not the very image |