sible; and, although "fully persuaded in our own minds," we feel that this possibility alone should moderate our demeanor towards others. What confusion of face must come, in the last day upon those who now despise and cast out others as heretics, should their astonished eyes see that the error was on their own part! We are none of us infallible; error is probably not wholly excluded from any one mind. How well then does it become us, to be gentle and charitable, even in our warmest hours of zeal.

But, on the other hand, if we were infallible, and could know, certainly, that our religious opinions are correct, where does the christian derive his right to utter anathemas against others? Is it not better for us to enlighten the minds of others, if they are in error, by the persuasive words of kindness and gentleness, than to fill their ears with a torrent of invectives, or to hold them up as objects of contempt?

But, it is often argued, "Suppose that we have tried gentle means, and they have no effect; what shall we do then? we cannot sit still and countenance error." No, we should neither sit still, nor countenance error. We should therefore continue to use gentle means, and God will perhaps, by and by, bless them and give us success. At all events, whether they are successful or not, we have no commission from God to use any other. If He designs that we should be the instruments of turning men from error, he will enable us to do our work with a christian spirit, and in a christian mode; and the moment that we resort to means which are at variance with the spirit of Christ, we give evidence enough that we are none of his. After all, the importance of having the right doctrines of christianity, is not so great as that of having its right principles; and the first principle of Christ is this, Love. "Now abideth these three, Faith, Hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is Love." It is a miserable, fatal delusion to forsake this principle, without which, the belief in doctrines is "as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal,” in our eagerness to make other men embrace our opinions.

Our remarks have been somewhat desultory. Perhaps the only unity consists in the severity with which we have spoken of intolerance and persecution. We have felt ourselves authorized to speak with severity against them both by the example of Christ, and our knowledge of their devastating influence in the christian church. We shall at all times make it one of our chief objects to expose and resist them, whenever, or in whatever way they are manifested. It is not our wish to call into question the sincerity of those, who lose

themselves in an exclusive and intolerant temper. We are ready to bear them witness, that they have a zeal for God, but we think that it is without knowledge. They perhaps "verily think that they ought to do and say many things, against their fellow men who differ from them; but we shall labor to show that, in this respect, they are "under a cloud," and that christianity itself is free from the dreadful charge of authorizing persecution.

One word more; we think that the principle of christian forbearance, which we have now been advocating, is of universal application. There is no class of men whom we have a right to exclude from its exercise. In our treatment of all men, no matter what they are, we should be christians. We cannot be too zealous in defending truth, but truth asks no aid from intolerance. We cannot too much regret the prevalence of unbelief, nor labor too hard to remove it; but it is both unchristian and unwise to deal in denunciations. They do no good, and only bring into reproach our holy religion.

W. G. E.

ART. II.-GAMING.

Ex. 20: 17: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. *

Every sort of gaming, implying as it does, not only the coveting of a neighbor's property, but the attempt to gain it, without returning any equivalent, very properly comes under the things forbidden by this commandment. Gaming implies more than hazard. Every human occupation is involved in hazard-the merchant and the farmer both run risks and large ones. But their exchanges are exchanges of equivalents. As the rule, they add to their property, only in proportion to the amount of their labor and capital. Each party gains by a mutual exchange of the products of labor. But in gaming, the avowed and whole purpose is to gain what is another's without returning any equivalent. This, when done with the mutual consent of the parties, constitutes gaming.

* It may be proper to account for the form and style of the following remarks, by say ing that they formed one of a series of Sunday evening lectures addressed to young men. We perceive that the subject is one which is attracting public attention in some of our cities, and we hope that it may attract still more attention in all of them.

Of course the modes of gaming are very various. But whether it be by games of chance or of skill, by betting on contingencies or in any other mode-all come back to the same principle; they are modes of getting a neighbor's propertyby mutual consent-without returning an equivalent.

Of course the moral consequences of different modes of gaming, are as different as the modes themselves. While some are comparatively harmless, others are disastrous. For example, he who bets on a contested election, does, so far as I can understand it, what is wrong, but it is a different thing from sitting down, night after night, to a gaming table. Indeed, the moral consequences and character of different forms. of gaming are so various, that I shall not attempt to discriminate between them. I shall not even attempt to show that gaming is a vice. I shall confine my remarks to one point alone attempting only to show, that whether it be innocent, or whether it be evil, it is something which had better be let alone.

In a city, the extremes of good and of evil meet-the highest privileges and the most dangerous seductions. Many young men are constantly thrown together, and at an age when the social feeling and the love of excitement are the strongest. When unoccupied, those games,-in which enough skill is required to excite the consciousness of ability, and enough chance is found to fever the mind with alternate hope and doubt,-offer themselves, as ministering better than any thing else to the craving for excitement. They fall in with a gamester, and small stakes at his urgency are introduced. The rest yield to this at first reluctantly. Often, it is done rather than disturb the harmony of social feeling, and oftentimes, from the fear of appearing fanatically scrupulous.

To say that these persons, thus far, have been guilty of a great crime, is saying what is not true. But we may say that in doing this, one may be exposing himself to temptation and future criminality to such a degree, that it is wise for him to abstain from anything that may be the beginning of gaming. At first one reluctantly puts his foot into the edge of the sea and shrinks back from the cold waters;-but if he steps in again and again, the chill is gradually taken off-the temp erature of his system is reduced to that of the great sea of gaming, and he is prepared to plunge forward into the deep waters, if any one tempt him on. This may by no means always be the result, but it is always a possible result, and there is so much danger of it, that it furnishes sufficient reason to let everything in the shape or likeness of gaming alone.

We know how easily any habit is formed,-how short the distance between the first disconnected acts and the settled habit, when the habit is one which is supported by the love of excitement. And we may see the danger of taking the first steps best, by looking at the evils that accompany the confirmed habit. From this point of view, let us look at gaming, and see if the consequences are not sufficient to cause one to let every thing which may lead to it, alone.

I speak then of gaming as a confirmed habit, and say that it is accompanied by appearances, which, whether they indicate realities or not, it is well to avoid.

1. I know not why, yet I believe it is an almost universal feeling, that there is something sordid and base in gaming for the purpose of gaining money. Those who do this professionally, are the outcasts of the world.

Yet when gaming has become a habit, it partakes not entirely, but in a degree of this appearance in all cases. A game of skill or chance becomes tame and unexciting. A small stake is introduced-why? To give the game interest. And by degrees a larger one is introduced,-and for the same reason. And henceforth the game is always exciting. Now the question is, what is it that gives this additional interest to an amusement in itself tame and unexciting? Evidently, the stake that is involved in the chances of the game. In other words, the desire of gaining, or the fear of losing money.

2. There is another characteristic of gaming, the mere appearance of which, I think a high minded man should be careful to avoid. Take a successful gamester. What he gains, another loses. He receives, he uses, he enjoys the property of another for which he has returned no equivalent. And in many cases it is what the other has no right to lose in any way. It belongs to his family-his wife-his children--and is necessary to their support. A high minded man ought to hesitate before he would allow such a one to lose to him.

3. There is another thing which, though it applies in its full force only to those with whom gaming is an employment, yet. it ought not to be entirely passed by. The final issue of all gaming must be loss. A merchant in effecting exchanges, adds to the value of his goods by placing them in positions where they are more accessible to those who buy. His labor adds value to articles, just as much as that of the husbandman who tills the soil. But in gaming, there is an exchange of property, without any value being added. Yet that exchange is slow and accompanied by great expenses, which the gamester must pay. In lotteries, for example, the whole

amount paid in, when it is returned in the shape of prizes, is subject to a deduction of fifteen per cent, and here the loss is less than any where else. This is on the supposition that all is conducted honestly, and that those who engage in gaming are equal in skill, for I shall not discuss the character of gaming, when it has descended so low as to be a thing of fraud. But when there is honesty and equality of skill, gaming if continued must from the very nature of the thing result in loss. In the attempt to gain, a man necessarily impoverishes himself.

These, it will be said, are minor considerations; and so they are; but not too unimportant to be referred to. I have spoken of avarice, and that in a very sordid form, as being one of the ruling passions of a gamester. I would not be understood as saying that it is the covetous desire of increasing his property that first leads one to the gaming table. Other causes lead to gaming-but gaming produces avarice.

A manly and fine spirited youth falls into this vice. At first he is probably seduced into it by appeals to his social feelings. He sits down to play, not because he desires to do so, but because others wish him to join with them. At first he is a dupe to those who practice on his good feelings; but a dupe he does not continue. His warm feelings burn with the intensity of the novel excitement. The hours, wearing deep into the night, conclude the game for the time. But whether he loses or wins, he is chained to that board, and to those companions. If he has won, he is taught that it is honorable to give his companions a chance of recovery. If he loses, he wishes to recover himself. He has begun to be a gambler, entangled with gamblers.

He now begins to feel what he never did before, that he is no longer his own master. The manly spirit is going out of him. This passionate excitement-this forming habit-this society of gamblers is too strong for him. The noble and generous qualities of his nature bend and are subdued like pliant reeds. What he would, he does not, and that which he would not, that he does.

And insensibly he is introduced among, and becomes linked in, with the most corrupt class of men that society shelters in its bosom. Not unfrequently he may have companions, that he could not bring himself to associate with in public. Gaming and the grave level all distinctions. The associates of the hours of greatest excitement, that is, of those hours when he is most susceptible of impressions of good or evil, are those who can exert no influence over him but an evil one. It is a combination for mutual degradation.