the sight of volumes, remarkable at once by their size and their sombre hue. Inquiry will inform you, that these are the works of the Christian fathers, consisting of pieces written in defence of Christianity, or in exposition of its principles, by Christian laymen, or Christian bishops, or heathen philosophers, converted to the doctrines of the cross; men, who, however, they may in some things fall short of the soundness and vigour of mind which distinguish this age, held in each successive period in which they lived, a high rank among the highest and best of the Christian or the heathen world. These are monuments which connect Christianity with Christ, and lead us from the nineteenth to the first century. In the state in which you behold them, the art of printing placed them in our libraries; and the discovery of that art, brought them from the silence of the monastery, and the frail keeping of parchment, where they had been for ages accumulating, as the stream of time came down with its deposits in each succeeding portion of its course. If you follow the leading of these hoary sages, they too will conduct you to the feet of Jesus. They constitute a main part of the literature to which Christianity has given birth, and stretch with a never-failing and broadly marked line, back into the first century. Indeed it is difficult to mark the spot which defines where the last of the Apostles ends, and where the first of the Fathers begins. As soon as the eye-witnesses of the Lord Jesus were taken from the earth, others warmed by love to God and Christ and man, assumed their stations with a view to carry on their work, and there they stand along, and as they come down a quickly thickening line of venerable men, giving a ceaseless testimony, and proclaiming with an unbroken voice, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. They are not of one country, but many; not of one tongue, not of one rank, not of one age; but they give one evidence, and so multifarious and vast are the details in which that voice is uttered, that, if by any calamity we should lose the myriads of myriads of copies of the New Testament which now exist throughout the world, the book could be reproduced from their writings, entire, al

most to a verse.

And in moral, not to say political changes, how clearly is the progress of Christianity marked! True, its moral influence has been counteracted in each age

by many and powerful adverse influences; but it is equally true, that under its agency the world has made a certain though not unbroken progress till the present hour. Its right to the empire of the world, has often been acknowledged, when its claims have been practically neglected. Monarchs have done it a verbal homage, while they failed to give to Christ their heart. Legislators have said, "It is our Sun," while they chose to walk in the thick darkness of their own minds. We take their evidence, while we regret their inconsistency; for we are seeking for external homage, as well as internal excellence. We see the conquering Goth, after laying waste the power and pride of the Cesars, bow with humility before the unarmed ministers of the Christ of God, and reverently kiss the extended cross, while he sheathes his yet reeking sword; his men of valour and the herd of his all but numberless band, follow the example of their chief, and receive a spiritual yoke from the very people on whose necks they had cast the chains of civil servitude. Stretching a little farther back into antiquity, we behold temples converted into churches, and the revenues of heathen appropriated to the maintenance of Christian priests, while amid all the pomp of the mansion and the palace, and all the simple scenes of humbler life, ministers who call themselves by the name of Christ, hold the place not long before possessed by those who served Jupiter, Venus, and Apollo. And through all the outward changes, by which the aspect of civil and domestic life evinces, from the earliest date of Christianity, the existence in its bosom of a new and powerful leaven, there may also be seen a new creation in the soul and life, which not only carries us back to the feet of Jesus, but also assures us, that in him there was no guile, but a divine and most prolific power of moral excellence. Notwithstanding the wickedness of men, the world, it cannot be questioned, has received immeasurable benefit from the moral influence of Christianity. Ascend from this to the earliest period, and you will find its progress marked by a moral fertility, which by its richness, and loveliness, indicates, as a verdant line of country in a barren land, the streaming along of water below the surface of the soil. Public institutions, but more still private life, evince the existence of a moral power, which is identified with Christianity, by the effect it produces, and leads the mind's eye back to

"the way, the truth, and the life." Within the three first centuries, especially, are the workings of this moral power to be seen. There were miracles wrought in the heart, as great and striking, as those which Jesus did in the sealed eye, or the lifeless corpse. Virtue took the place of vice, benevolence of selfishness, self-sacrifice of self-interest. Moral courage was given to the timid, power of endurance to the meek. There was refinement instead of grossness of heart-there was hope towards God in those who had scarcely known even his name, and a confident expectation of eternal life, in persons who had feared they should be doomed to wander for ever on the banks of the fabulous Styx, or had renounced all idea of a hereafter, in consequence of the darkness in which it was shrouded, or the absurdities with which it was debased in the popular faith. These changes imply an adequate cause, and no where can their author be found, but in Jesus Christ. To him they lead, beyond him they lead not; before him they are not seen, and after him, though at various times varying in extent, they have not ceased to be. From these great moral changes, the mind is led at once to Christ. It sees in the first and second century, a wonderful and extensive growth of moral fertility and luxuriance. Old things are passed away: in how many hearts-in how many families, not to say nations, are all things of a sudden become new. "It is like the bursting out of spring, in bush, flower, and tree. The mind seeks the cause of this renovation. Why is winter gone-why spring come?" The thoughts wander in vain in quest of the cause, till they settle on the Sun of Righteousness. They turn to him, and find in his character, his doctrine, and his works, the illustration of his own sublime description-"I am the light of the world," and on him they fix and settle with mind and heart alike satisfied, at the result of the research.

(Letter IV. to be concluded in our next.)

On the Moral Constitution and History of Man.

CHAPTER IX.

In the previous Chapter, we took a general view of the necessity and benefit of divine revelations to mankind in the early ages of the world, in respect even of the first elements of natural science, and still more so, in those of moral science or religion. We remarked, that from the

nature of the subject, this system of supernatural instruction and guidance, required to be continued longer in the case of religion than of other things, and that the Jewish Institute was the organ of it, not merely for the benefit of that nation, but for the benefit of the world, by preserving and propagating those principles of natural religion, which lie at the root of all morality, and consequently of all progress in civilization. Accustomed as we now are, to regard such principles as the easy deductions of reason, or the obvious dictate of common sense, we are apt to be insensible of the difficulty which men felt to acquire them, in the infant ages of the world. But the history of antiquity, proves this most distinctly to have been the fact. The traditions of the patriarchal age, had, indeed, been preserved in some degree among the Persians, although associated with many errors; but among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, through whose channel the tide of civilization flowed downward to the inhabitants of Western Asia and Europe-all were immersed in the grossest idolatry and superstitions. And these the two latter especially, were the influential nations, whose learning, customs, and empire, were to give a direction to the opinions and manners of all surrounding countries and succeeding ages. Amidst this mass of moral corruption and ignorance of true religion generally prevalent, the Jewish system was the little leaven which first resisted the demoralizing tendency, and afterwards spread a healthful fermentation of renovating principles in society.

It seems to have been the design of Providence, in furtherance and illustration of his general plan of education for the human race, to permit those nations who were to be the instructors of the world in natural science and arts, to lose almost entirely for a time, the knowledge of true religion and morality. The grand lesson to be acquired from this part of Providence, is, that man with capacities for great moral and intellectual improvement, can accomplish nothing of himself, without the continued aid of his Maker. By this lesson, mankind are taught their dependance on, and relation to the Deity; not only as their Creator, but as their Moral Governor. They are likewise taught a certain kind and degree of experience and of wisdom, which they could not otherwise have acquired experience respecting good and evil, truth and error, God and man; on the knowledge of which, all that

is most important to the dignity of moral character and to the acquisition of true happiness depends. Such are the reasons, we may presume, why the Egyptians, Phenicians, Greeks, and Romans, were left to themselves in matters of religion; and why the Israelites were instructed with special care-the one cultivating natural arts and sciences as they could, the other devoted or rather kept to the study of moral science, whether they would or not; till, in fulness of time, the acquisitions of each should be blended together for the benefit of all. We say, all this was in furtherance and illustration of the original plan, by which mankind (as a general rule) were to be left to their own resources, and to the operation of fixed laws; but yet assisted so far as it was necessary to preserve or to excite sentiments which they might otherwise lose or be unable to find.

We have seen how the Jewish religion was, in this respect, the instrument of Providence for good in its day, and how it was more excellent than that of the Gentiles; but there is another point of view in which it is proper also to regard it, namely, in what respect it was defective and provisional, with respect to the destined progress of society. For it has happened, in this as in other similar matters, that men, from the force of habit and prejudice, cling to the customs and spirit of their forefathers, after they cease to be suitable to a more improved age; and thus, things which were once useful and promoted the progress of society, become an impediment to it.

One defective part of the Jewish institution, in this point of view, was, the number and importance of its ceremonies. Ceremony in morals, is nothing but a mean towards an end, or a substitute in point of form, to serve, when better cannot be had, for the substance of religion— a sort of homage rendered to it, which may preserve it in some esteem with the public, when the personal sentiment is as yet weak or malconformed. A ceremonial

system is only suited to the infant state of society, and the power by which it is enforced, is that of mere arbitrary authority. It can neither appeal to reason, nor to justice, nor to a pure moral feeling, in support of its requirements. It regards the Deity as a hard and capricious Master, rather than as a kind Father or Friend.

Connected with this view, we are especially to regard one set of its ceremonies, namely, its sacrifices. There