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In explanation of the principles on which our estimate of piety is founded, and in vindication of that estimate itself, we appeal to the Holy Scriptures, as affording the only correct standard of truth. Whence is it then, perhaps it may be asked, that among persons who equally profess to appeal to the same unerring standard, there exists so great a diversity of opinion? The question is thus stated and answered by a writer of no ordinary stamp: Against such persons, however denominated, it has among other things been objected that "When the enemies of such a profession they require every body to see with their eyes: (such as we are now considering) bring forand the charge of uncharitableness has been ward the stale objection- What is true reliurged against them, because they are sup-gion? for we find it one thing in England, anoposed to question the sincerity and impugn the piety of every individual who does not coincide in all particulars with their sentiments and conform to their habits. This is a serious charge, and at the same time one which is very likely to gain currency without much examination into its truth or falsehood. Liberality of sentiment, as it is called, and the notions which pass current under that phrase, are very favourable to the views of the world in general, who do not care to have their principles and conduct too nicely scrutinized; and at the same time so revolting to an ingenuous mind is the imputation of bigotry, that candour itself is liable to be duped into an easy acquiescence with the prevailing opinion on this subject. The charge in question, in the sense in which it is intended, is utterly without foundation, and proceeds from ignorance of the principles of those against whom it is made. Charity, as it has often been remarked, does not consist in believing every person to be a Christian with or without evidence; but in putting the most favourable interpretation that circumstances may permit on such points as come under our notice. It may be well to observe, as a passing remark, that the very individuals who tax others with a want of charity, for setting up, as they assume, an arbitrary standard of piety, are themselves (perhaps unconsciously) guilty of a similar offence, by setting up a standard of their own; and every one who advances a step beyond it, is suspected by them of hypocrisy or enthusiasm whoever manifests greater earnestness or livelier feelings than themselves on Rel. Mag.-No. 6. ther in Scotland, a third at Rome, and often twenty different things in the same place;settle this, they say, among yourselves before you address us on the subject;'-we answer, it has long been settled. While you stumble at the supposed diversity, we both discern and admire the identity. We feel the fullest conviction, that real religion in itself, so far from being a different thing in different places, is one and the same thing at all times and in all places. . . . In order to understand this, men should consider what real religion is-namely, the heart of fallen man returning to God through a Mediator. The Scriptures term this Life.' As the life of the body is one and the same principle in all men, whatever difference there be observed in their respective complexions, features or forms: so, real religion, which is the life of the soul, is one and the same principle; of a higher order indeed, but which equally identifies the subject; and like the former, is discerned by the exercise of its proper faculties and acts. ... Tell me not of the external forms and petty circumstantial distinctions with which his education or connexions have prejudiced his mind: they are but as his provincial dialect, his dress or his complexion. The grand inquiry should be-Is the sinner humble and penitent before his God? Is he seeking acceptance only through that Redeemer whom God hath set forth for a propitiation through faith in his blood?' Is he found walking in a course of holy obedience? If this be really his case, then call such a man by what term of distinction or reproach you please, still the man is alive to God, and will join his fel low believers in serving Him; if not in the 3 P same modes, yet to the same ends; there will be an unity, though not an uniformity. Strip religion therefore of that which is no essential part of it, or what is only accidental to it; and regard it as described in the Scriptures, and exemplified, though but imperfectly, in the true believer; and then you will find it the same under every dispensation." It is then, in the heart, so far as man can judge of it, that we are accustomed, after the example of the Judge of all, to look for the evidence of true piety. Let it not be said that this is an encroachment on the province of Him whose unalienable prerogative it is to "search the heart and try the reins;" if it be true that "a tree is known by its fruits"-or certain that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," we have sufficient authority for our conduct. And here, as in many other points, the analogy of common life may serve to throw a light upon the subject. How is it, for instance, that we learn to appreciate, as they deserve, the professions of a hollow friendship, if not by reading the secret workings of the heart through the veil with which it is enveloped? Who can define that peculiar feeling called taste, in reference to the fine arts? Take music, for instance. Among the numerous pretenders to the art, do we hesitate asserting respecting a great majority, that they have no real taste for music? and yet they shall, many of them, have attained a considerable proficiency, both as it respects the knowledge of the science, and the execution of the art :why then are we to be called uncharitable for acting precisely on the same principles in estimating the degree in which the affections are under the influence of religion?-for this simple reason, Because men will persist, in defiance of the dictates of reason and Scripture to the contrary, in looking at the outward conduct, while God looketh at the heart. him "not in word only, but in power;" he is enabled to enter into the spiritual meaning of passages which once appeared dark and unintelligible; he did not disbelieve, i. e. actually reject such passages before; but he could affix no definite idea to them; they were mysteries into which he could not enter. But now they come home to his mind with a force of which he was formerly unconscious; and seem to possess a beauty and suitableness which he could neither see nor feel before. Will it be demanded," how can these things be?" the reply of our Lord to one in the objector's situation, is the only reply in our power to return-" that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit-marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again." —“ The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual discerneth all things." What evidence can we produce that we are cheered by the light of the sun and invigorated by its warmth? A blind man may say it is impossible; and who shall undertake to convince him of his error? But does that alter the real state of the case? or is any one who has the use of his eyes in any degree the more convinced that he is deceived in the impressions of which he is sensible? The blind man may indeed be instructed in the theory of vision, and what does his idea of it amount to, after all your pains?—that "scarlet is like the sound of a trumpet," as one is recorded to have said. The Scriptures, however, afford abundant authority for the comparison; they state all mankind to be by nature in a state of spiritual blindness, from which they can be recovered by no inferior power than that which "commanded the light to shine out of darkness" at the creation of the world: (2 Cor. iv. 6.)-to assert an exemption from the common fault of man in our own case, is to add to the delusion without diminishing the guilt: as our Lord said to the "Jews, now you say, we see, therefore your sin remaineth"--but He "came a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth in Him should not abide in darkness." To be sensible of our ignorance is the first step towards acquiring real wisdom. But the Christian must not only satisfy his own mind, he must be preI. As it respects the satisfaction of his own pared to justify his principles before the world; mind indeed, the true believer has not much he must be ready to give an answer to every difficulty to encounter; because he possesses one that asketh a reason of the hope that is in that kind of evidence within his own breast, him." He is accused of entertaining enthusi which is to himself entirely conclusive. "He astic notions respecting the nature of piety. that believeth (it is said) hath the witness in We have in part considered the manner in himself." "The Spirit beareth witness with which he meets the charge, and when we take his spirit that he is a child of God." His faith into the account that he was once under the rests in the first instance, indeed, on that ex- influence of the same prejudices which he is ternal evidence of the truth of revelation which now desirous of combating; that he at one is open to the examination of all the world; time found himself precisely in the situation of but he now believes and embraces it not only his present opponents; once entered into their as true, but as suitable; the gospel has met his views and adopted their arguments; and that wants; he now rejoices in the knowledge of he has only given up these positions point by his Saviour with much of that appropriating point, as he found them successively untensfeeling which the men of Sychar expressed-ble-again, when he finds his present senti"Now we believe, not because of thy saying, but because we have seen him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world." The gospel has come to Two propositions are necessarily implied and involved in the genera! imputation of uncharitableness, as it respects that class of individuals who are affected by it. First, that they are mistaken or enthusiastic in their estimate of the nature of piety in themselves; and secondly, that they are not authorized to judge of others by that same standard. Let us bestow a little attention on each of these points. ments corroborated and confirmed by the united experience and testimony of those whose integrity and consistency of character entitle them to confidence; and, once more, when under an habitual consciousness of his entire | (and surely you must allow they constitute a ignorance and helplessness in reference to spi- numerous class) whose moral conduct is corritual things, he watches against the acknow-rect; whose discharge of social and relative ledged "deceitfulness and desperate wickedness" of his own heart, brings all its secret workings to the light of God's truth, and judges of all according to the law and the testimony-when these considerations are taken into the account, he seems not only to have strong grounds of confidence for the establishment of his own faith, but to challenge the attention of every candid mind. It is indeed difficult, not to say impossible, to give any just idea to a second person, of the strong conviction which the true believer possesses of the general soundness of his own principles; his faith, as the Scripture beautifully expresses it, is "built upon a rock." We say the general soundness of his principles for the enlightened Christian lays no claim to infallibility; he is painfully conscious of much remaining ignorance and prejudice, but in the main he is like a man who having, through mercy, passed a dangerous road under the shades of night, now in broad day-light draws back his steps, and marks the dangers which beset his path; and now with feelings of gratitude to the God who hath borne with his wanderings, and guided his erring footsteps, he would set up beacons to warn the unwary traveller, and direct him safely along the narrow way-but this must be experienced in order to be understood. It has been shrewedly remarked, "he who stands on a height, sees farther than those who are placed in a bottom; but let him not fancy that he shall make those below believe all he sees." Under a consciousness therefore of our inability to do justice to the subject of experimental religion, in the short space which could at present be devoted to it, we pass on to the consideration of such points as are open to the observation of all-which introduces us to the second general head under which we proposed to divide our remarks, viz. II. The grounds upon which the Christian forms his estimate of the religion of the world; in other words, the authority on which he subjects others to the same standard as himself. And here it naturally occurs to us, that the Scriptures uniformly teach us to consider all mankind as divided, in reference to their character in the sight of God, into two classes: and this also, with a special application to the visible Church, or body of professing Christians. Thus we read, not only in general terms of" children of light, and children of the wicked one"-but of "the tares and the wheat""virgins wise and foolish:" nay, a scrutiny more exact and searching still-guests admitted to the marriage supper, and "one who had not on a wedding garment," for " many are called, but few chosen." Now by what law of charity is it that we are called to shut our eyes to the melancholy picture which the most cursory survey of the world must place before them? By what progress of ratiocination is it that we are to be brought to the conclusion, that the majority of the crowd by which we are surrounded are true Christians? Perhaps it may be said this is a perversion of argument. We never intended to call the profligate and profane true Christians; we refer to those only duties is not impeached; and whose attention to the calls of benevolence is exemplary. Surely such characters as these are worthy of being placed on the favourable side of that line of demarcation which you are so anxious to establish, even though they should receive, with some qualification, the exclusive dogmas which engage so much of your attention-and allow of some greater latitude in the enjoyment of the innocent recreations of society, which suit their station in life, and conduce to health of body and hilarity of mind. This sounds very plausible-and it is granted that the modifications of character which result from disposition, habits, connexions, &c. are so numerous and diversified, that we cannot discriminate with precision between genuine piety and a near counterfeit; but we must not allow ourselves to be deluded under the specious pretence of liberality, from exercising our judgment in subservience to the authority, and in conformity to the decisions of revealed truth. Now with respect to such characters as have just come under our notice, what is the real state of the case?-granting all that is said of them as far as relates to external conduct, wherein do they necessarily and essentially differ from the world with which they are associated? Is there any one point in their character as above delineated, which is not capable of easy imitation by one, who shall confessedly be destitute of the spirit of piety? The answer to this question will be found in the history of the "young ruler," in the gospel. In such persons you will find much to admire and much to imitate; great propriety of conduct, but not, necessarily, any spirituality of mind. In short, they assimilate more nearly with the world, than with those whose "affections," are evidently "set on things above." But to be more particular, let us consider in a few instances the grounds on which we withhold our assent to the claim of genuine Christianity on the part of such persons as those now under consideration. Because, 1. In the first place they do not take the Bible as the exclusive standard of their faith and practice; this, as we must consult brevity, must stand almost as a mere assertion, with one short observation, that the assertion would seem to be sufficiently established by remarking the manner in which an appeal to the decisions of Scripture is usually received; nay, we could almost be content to refer the question to the individuals themselves. They will hardly, we think, venture to assert that they ever intended to yield such an implicit deference to the sacred oracles as we assume to be an indispensable duty. The rule is indeed received; but either it is unintelligible, or inapplicable, or impracticable, or any thing, in short but what it is. Take a specimen first respecting faith. "There is none other name (i. e. than that of Jesus Christ) under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." So says the record. Now for the comment:-" for my part, I don't trouble my head much about what a man believes, so he leads a good life, and is sincere in his opinions." Again, take an in stance with respect to practice. The Bible says, "No man can serve two masters: ye cancannot serve God and Mammon:" what says our commentator? "I don't intend to serve two masters; but then one must do as the world does one can't make one's self singular and be called a Methodist;-if you would have every thing taken in this literal way, we had better go and live in a desert, and turn hermits at once; besides, I don't know what Mammon means; there is so much difficulty in the Bible, you don't agree about it yourselves." Who can avoid recalling the words of our Lord, "Ye hypocrites! well did Esaias prophecy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh to me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me:--but in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." 2. A second evidence, from which we judge that the heart of these persons is not right in the sight of God, is, that they manifest no tenderness of conscience in reference to things doubtful; nothing less than plain and palpable immorality or breach of positive duty occasions them any disquietude. There is no sense of the tendency to evil; no" abstaining from the appearance of evil;" no looking at the influence of their conduct on others; no anxiety "lest a stumbling-block or occasion of falling should be cast in their brother's way." As this is true positively, in reference to their conduct in what they do, so the same may be remarked negatively as to what they do not. 3. So that, thirdly, there is no sensitiveness as to duties not expressly commanded. Take an instance in the employment of the leisure which the Sabbath affords: public ordinances are sparingly frequented, and other ways of improving the sacred hours almost entirely neglected. The Bible is taken up, and the stated number of chapters duly gone through; other religious books have their turn; but each and all of them give place, as occasion serves, to a novel or a newspaper;-and where's the harm? why, where are your affections? where is the evidence that the principle of spiritual life has been called forth, or even that a desire has been entertained, that it should be quickened to more vigorous exercise? 4. Where piety is not genuine, there is little or no interest excited as to the spiritual welfare of mankind at large, or of individuals in particular. Persons of the character referred to, are charitable in the vulgar acceptation of the term, they desire the reformation of the profligate, they would "make the men sober, and the maids industrious," and lend a willing hand to alleviate the distress, and minister to the temporal wants of their fellow creatures. They will go further than this, and urge upon the poor the duty of reading the Bible, daily prayer, and a regular attendance at Church; and the sacrament must be received at least three times every year: but here they stop; the objects of their attention are never urged to institute the momentous inquiry, "What shall I do to be saved?" the Gospel is never pressed upon their regard under the sanction of this solemn alternative," he that hath the Son, hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life." This naturally leads to the consideration of 5. Another negative evidence of an unenlightened mind,-viz. that such persons are not qualified to instruct others in the way of salvation, even though they should wish to attempt it. When they meet, indeed, with an individual, dissolute, profane, or evidently careless, they will point out in strong colours the evil consequences of such conduct, and urge him to repentance and reformation: it is not necessary to inquire how far their instructions are founded on scriptural principles, or in what degree they are calculated to affect a real change of character in the persons addressed; we will take it for granted that they are both; but what is the case when a different character comes under their notice? when they are called upon to direct the sincere inquirer after truth,-to minister consolation to a mind bowed down under a sense of sin, or trembling with anxious doubt on the verge of eternity? are they not conscious to themselves of an inability to meet such cases with any adequate topics of encouragement and support? and let it be observed that such inability shall not arise from a want of information in themselves as to the theory of religion, or from any natural incapacity to clothe their ideas in suitable language: on other subjects they are at no loss for words, and even in reference to the generalities of religion they will find enough to say; but here (if they are anxious to direct the inquirer right) they are quite at a loss, they cannot enter into the feelings of the mind in such a state the soul is on the rack of uncertainty and alarm, and conscience will not be appeased by vague notions of the mercy of God, and other common-place topics; it requires something definite and substantial whereon to build its hopes; and this they are incompetent to point out. It will not be supposed that this is an argument on which much stress could be laid, considered abstractedly in itself; because it is very possible for a sincere Christian, especially in an early stage of his course, to feel himself incompetent to the task of instructing others, foundation: but taking the above remarks in even though his own peace be built on a solid connexion with other circumstances which have been, or which remain to be pointed out, we surely may be allowed to suggest that they furnish at least an incidental and collateral evidence which may lead us to the same general conclusion. 6. Another mark which serves to characterize the true Christian, and to distinguish him from those who have only "a name to live," is the "love of the brethren," or of the true disciples of his Lord wheresoever found, or howsoever distinguished. He loves them instinctively, as it were, previous to personal acquaintance, and in proportion to the simplicity, piety, and zeal manifested in their character. His regard for such persons falls, indeed, far short of the standard at which he aims, and he has much cause for humiliation when he considers what trifling circumstances are oftentimes sufficient to produce estrangement and separation: but notwithstanding deductions of this kind from the general truth, the bent of |