262 INFINITE TRUTH AND HUMAN NARROWNESS.

doctrines in rhyme, the "separating and proving of doctrines," as it is called, in the manner described, is still a very questionable proceeding. If it were intended for man, to learn the revelations of God by piecemeal, arranged under certain heads, there can be no doubt but that the Scriptures would have been originally written in such a "systematic" manner. And though the imperfection of man, and his short-sightedness, require that he should give to himself, from time to time, a concise account of what he has learned, which every pupil should be encouraged, by his religious teacher, to do for himself again and again, as he proceeds; yet, that an universal epitome of this kind is not required, is clear from the fact, that the Bible is expressly written upon the opposite plan; nay, there seems evidence that it is impossible; for with all the intelligence and zeal, with which the work has been undertaken, there has never been any catechism or creed written, which received the universal assent of all that felt and thought on the subject. What experience has thus taught us, on one hand, is, upon a moment's reflection, obvious, from the nature of things, on the other. It must be admitted, that "condensed views of religious truth" are a want of the finite creature, not of the infinite spirit. Now, although it is impossible for any man to acquire knowledge, without being at first confined by the narrowness of his own nature, which he has gradually to enlarge, yet that only proves, that each individual should take retrospective views of his own religious proficiency; but how does it follow, that the narrow mould of one mind is the best shape, in which the subject can be brought before thousands of others? This is, in fact, the true state of the case. One man, say Mr. Gall, or any other catechism, creed, or rhyme-writer, has a certain view of divine truth; it has, in his finite mind, assumed a certain form; and, full of the excellency of that form, which, it must be admitted, is the best for him, because it is the best of which he is at the time capable, he presents the world with it, as a general pattern for the

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conception of religious truth; and upon this pattern he cuts out, like a mercer or tailor, pieces of that revelation which ought to be given to the child in its own original connexion, as designed by God.

What was the purpose of the Most High, in the creation of the world, in the planting of Eden, in the establishment of man on earth in his present condition, in the successive covenants of mercy which he made with his fallen creature? What was his purpose, when he chose Abraham and his seed, when he brought forth his people from Egypt, with a strong hand and a stretched out arm, when he brought them through the waves of the Red Sea, and the waters of Jordan, when he went before them in a cloud by day, and in a flame of fire by night, when he caused his glory to shine in the temple on the holy Mount? What was his purpose, when the Son of God came to dwell in the flesh, when he suffered and died, when he rose again from the dead, ascended to Heaven, and sent his Holy Spirit to his Apostles and their disciples? What, in all these great and wonderful dispensations, was the divine purpose? Was it, that the record of them all should readily glide from the lips of thousands of thoughtless and unfeeling children, that the fragments of this record should be patched up together, in doctrinal systems, in their brains, that they may deceive themselves and others into a vain belief, that, "by hearing, faith hath come" to them, and that they are born again, and become the children of God, whilst, in fact, they have nothing but a familiarity with the dead letter? By the idolatrous homage paid to this letter, we have, as the Jews of old, come to the point, that the book of God, given us for the promotion of religion among us, has been perverted into a means of blinding men against the true spirit and the real nature of religion. Can there be a greater blindness, than to make that the end and object of the whole, which, by God, was only designed as a means? The reproof of our Saviour, "Ye search the Scriptures, for in them, ye think, ye have eternal

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66 YE SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES."

life; and they are they which testify of me," in its misunderstood translation, is significantly enough prefixed to most of these works, whose direct tendency is, to lead the children into that mistake, against which the reproof was directed, namely, to think, that in the Scriptures they have eternal life, whereas they are only that, which testifies of the true source of eternal life. In the face of all the declarations of our Saviour and of his apostles, that religion is to be sought and found inwardly, we still direct the main force of our instruction upon the outward, and, instead of using this as a means for directing the child's mind to that of which it testifies, we make the outward itself the end to be attained, and that in which the child's attention and energy is swallowed up. When will the blessed period arrive, when men shall be able to distinguish between knowing the Scriptures, and having religion,-between teaching the Scriptures, and leading to religion,-between the name and the thing? If we saw clearly, that it is an internal and spiritual building up we must aim at, in our religious instruction, we should never think of undertaking that work, as the electionist-teachers do, without faith in the existence of the foundation of that edifice in the child's heart. We should then feel that the knowledge of the outward word is not a power, nor has any power in itself; we should view it in its true light, as a dead material, which, when accumulated at a more rapid rate, than it is applied in rearing the structure, can only create confusion, and retard the progress of the very work for which it is intended; we should then feel no hesitation in communicating the truths of revelation in that manner of which God himself has given the example, that is to say, in a slow succession, giving time for each additional part of the instruction to be received, not only into the memory, or the understanding, but into the very state of the individual, by taking living root in his soul. But to do this, requires "the patience of the saints," and a greater faith than our religious teachers generally have.

GOD NOT THE ORIGINATOR OF EVIL.

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It is their little faith, which betrays them into this hurried, topsyturvy mode of handling a subject, which, of all others, ought to be treated steadily and considerately; and the consequence is, that they overwhelm the child's faculties, both by the hastiness of their proceedings, and by the garbled manner in which they represent things. Thus, for instance, can there be any thing more unlike the real tenor of the Bible, than the assertion, that God made, beside the world and the saints, "the wicked too," and that with a view to" spread abroad his fame ?" Is it possible to conceive of a more unworthy as well as unnatural idea of the most perfect and most holy God, than this, which represents him as a Being, actuated by the thirst of fame, and, from a desire to see it spread abroad, giving origin to evil? for such is the notion, which those rhymes convey, and to which, probably, the author would stand in its full extent, as a "separated and well proved doctrine." Not to speak of the meanness of soul, which must be required to conceive of God creating a whole universe, not as the image and everlasting mirror of his perfections, the vesture of his glory, but "to spread abroad his fame" in it-the latter part of that sentiment, in which God is represented as the originator of evil, is absolutely subversive of the groundwork of all true religion, as it does away with the distinction between good and evil, between the author of the one, and that of the other, and thus assimilates the Holy One of Israel with Baal and Moloch. Or, what is the sum and substance of all revelation, but that God is a just, holy, and perfect God, the author of all good, and of good only, whose creatures were all perfect, when coming forth from his hand; whose abomination for sin, and his loving kindness and mercy for his creatures, are so great, that, after some of the latter had departed from the holiness of a life in union with him, he, unable to endure their corruption, and unwilling to consent to their perdition, appointed countless means of mercy for their rescue, crowned at last by the most wonderful of all, the incarnation and sacrifice of his

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GOD MADE THE WICKED FOR THE DAY OF EVIL." own eternal Son? And what is the scope of revelation, but to induce man to forsake the evil, to which the rebellious creature has given birth, and to return to the original purity and holiness which is in, and with God? Is it, then, not subverting the basis, and belying the Spirit, of this revelation, to represent God as the first cause of evil? A better instance could not be imagined, if one were to set about it on purpose, of the false doctrines arising out of a literal and fragmentary acquaintance with, and interpretation of, Scripture. Had the passage of Proverbs, here profanely quoted, in support of a blasphemous assertion, not been parted from its context, there could be no danger of the child's conceiving so perverse a notion of the Divine Being, as is here expressly inculcated, and fixed on the memory, by a stanza; for any one reading the chapter referred to, and the preceding one, will find himself placed with the inspired writer on the stage of a fallen world, whose regulation by the Divine Government is exhibited in a variety of instances; and, with a view to encourage an absolute reliance on the guidance of Providence, the dependance, even of the wicked and of their ways, is noticed; in the "doctrines in rhyme," on the contrary, the words quoted are brought into connexion with the first creation of all things, to which there is not the slightest allusion in the context of the passage, and thus a sense is produced, which, though it may gratify the predestinarian views of some of our false teachers, is equally abhorrent from the spirit of religion in general, and from the particular import of the sentence in question. If any man were to extract in this manner, out of the writings of another, some detached passages, and, by putting things together, which have no connexion whatever, were to put such a false construction upon the author's meaning, he would either be scorned as a blockhead, or hooted at as an infamous libeller; but a publication, which takes this liberty with the inspired volume, and with the character of the Supreme Being, is extensively circulated, and almost universally applauded, in