In short, we expect no grand moral reformation to be achieved-no commencement of the millennial era of the church, till" the watchmen upon Mount Sion," with more energy than they have yet displayed," shall lift up their voice like a trumpet, and show to the house of Jacob their transgressions"-till they "lift it up with strength, and not be afraid" of any suspicions that may be thrown out against their orthodoxy, when they show unto men the path of duty in all its bearings on the relations of time, and on the employments of eternity-till they make the moral principles of Revelation bear, in all their force, not only on the prominent features of social life, but upon every minute ramification of human conduct till every lurking principle of jealousy, envy, avarice, and revenge be made to feel their energy-till even the very amusements of public and domestic life be made to bend to the eternal laws of rectitude, and to carry on their fronts that noble inscription, "HOLINESS TO THE LORD."

II. If the preceding train of sentiments be admitted, we may be directed in our views of the nature and ends of church discipline, and the persons on whom it ought to be exercised.

In a great majority of Christian churches, censures are inflicted chiefly, or solely, on persons guilty of an external breach of one or two precepts of the decalogue-only one or two species of violation of the moral law are considered as worthy of cognizance; while the systematic operations of slander, revenge, envy, and avarice-the indications of harsh, sour, and ungovernable tempers, and the absence of Christian candour and affection-circumstances which display the real characters of men far more distinctly than any insulated acts of immorality can do are either wholly overlooked, or considered as characteristics of very trivial import. The censures to which I allude, are likewise accompanied, in many instances, with a degree of magisterial haughtiness, severity, and unchristian feeling, which is directly repugnant to every amiable, candid, and generous principle. A person guilty, in a single instance, of a breach of the seventh or eight commandments, will lie under the frown of a religious society for years, and even to the close of his life, notwithstanding every evidence he can give of the sincerity of his repentance, and even be deprived of the means of earning his subsistence; while another may habitually violate almost all the other precepts of the decalogue, and be screened from the discipline of the church. He may be avaricious, cunning, and deceitful; harsh and unfeeling in his conduct; uncandid and uncharitable in his dispositions towards others; proud, selfish, and obstinate in his temper; addicted to slander and to incessant litigations; impatient of control; and boisterous and contentious in his general deportment-and yet be considered as no proper object of censure; and,

though never manifesting the least symptom of penitence, will be viewed as a tolerably fair cha racter in religious society, especially if he has acquired a considerable share of wealth and of influence in general society,-Of such cases and practices, the author had selected a number of striking examples, which the narrow limits to which he is confined in the present work, constrain him, in the mean time, to postpone.

Now, if the general sentiments already thrown out be founded on truth, and on the nature of things, such a practice as that to which we allude, must be absurd, unchristian, and inconsistent with the preservation of the moral purity of religious society. It has this pernicious tendency, among others, that it leads multitudes to imagine, that, if they can keep clear of two or three acts of moral delinquency, they may trample on every divine principle and law with impunity. A poor wretch, under the pressure of poverty, steals a hen or a pocket handkerchief, and, notwithstanding his subsequent repentance, is banished from social intercourse, and held up to execration; while a sanctimonious hypocrite will swindle his neighbour out of a hundred pounds, if no criminal law can take hold of him, and will retain his station in the church, and hold up his face without a blush in the presence of general society. It is obvious, if there be any truth in what we have hitherto stated, that the general tenor of the conduct, and the uniform manifestation of benevelent affections, ought, in every case, to form the grand criterion of a man's being entitled to the character of a Christian; and, that dispositions of an opposite nature habitually displayed, however much overlooked in the general intercourse of life, ought to form a ground of exclusion from the society of the faithful.

III. This subject has a particular bearing upon the divisions which subsist in the religious world, and the grand principles which ought to form a bond of union among all who acknowledge the truth of the Christian Revelation.—If the train of thought illustrated in the preceding pages be correct, it will follow, that a cordial union of the various sections of the Christian church is to be expected from the cultivation of the Spirit of Love, more than from any attempt to produce an exact coincidence of opinion on these theological points in which they now differ. Wherever this spirit is found expanding the soul, and governing the affections, it will lead its pos sessors to view the peculiar opinions of others with candour; to respect their persons; to allow them liberty of thought on all the subordinate ramifications of theological sentiment; and to set a higher value on moral qualifications, and the manifestation of benevolent affections, than on those circumstantial opinions which do not enter into the essence of the Christian scheme. If the professing Christian world were thoroughly investigated, it would be found, that it is owing

more to the absence of this spirit, that Chrisaans stand so much aloof from each other, than to the speculative opinions which they respectively maintain. The prevalent disposition for sneering at other denominations, and the pleasure that seems to be felt in laying open their sores, will generally be found to proceed from a rinciple of pride, and of self-conceit in regard to our own favourite opinions, some of which, when probed to the bottom, will be found as rotten as our neighbour's. Why are men not as much disposed to pass encomiums on what is sound in the opinions, and laudable in the conduct, of other parties, as they are to censure them for minor peculiarities of sentiment? Why? Because it appears, that many professed Christians take more delight in the exercise of malevolent feelings than of benevolent affections; and are like flies, that pass over the sound parts of a man's body, and fix upon his sores. Till such unchristian dispositions be undermined, and tempers of an opposite description pervade the ranks of Christian society, we can expect no cordial nor lasting union in the visible church, however many ingenious schemes may be formed, to bring about this desirable event. For every effect must have an adequate cause: this cause will be found to consist more in the affection than in

opinion; and a union formed on an apparent coincidence of sentiment, unmingled with ardent love and affection, would be unworthy of the name, and would soon be dissolved.

It can form no decisive mark of a man's Christianity, that he recognises the peculiar opinions of the Baptists or Pædo-Baptists, of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, or Independents; it is a matter, comparatively of little importance, whether a man believes that Christ was an actual or a virtual Mediator under the Old Testament; whether he be designated the Son of God in virtue of his office, or of his nature; whether or not we be guilty of Adam's first sin; whether the transaction which passed between him and his Creator, should be viewed as a law, or as a covenant; whether the ordinance of baptism should be administered by dipping, or by sprinkling, &c. &c.-But it is, unquestionably, a matter of the highest moment, both to the person himself, and to Christian society, that his temper, affections, and conduct, should be in unison with the holy law of God, and that he should display the love which it requires, in all his social, commercial, domestic, and Christian intercourses ;and if such dispositions and conduct were universally to prevail among the various denominations of the religious world, union would soon follow, es a matter of course.-If, therefore, we wish to behold the unhappy divisions of the church cemented, let us cultivate, with ardour, those amiable and affectionate dispositions which our Jenevolent religion inculcates, and be more anxious to correct our own mental and moral

aberrations, than to magnify the errors and the faults of others. Let us make every allowance for the effects which education, habit, temper local circumstances, and particular associations, may have produced on the opinions of our supposed erring brethren; and let us consider, that we ourselves, had we been placed in the same circumstances, might have imbibed the same sentiments. Let us endeavour to acquire clear and well-defined ideas on every subject connected with religion; that we may not contend about trifles, about mere abstract ideas, or the application of particular terms or phrases. Let us keep our eyes fixed on the great and prominent objects of revolation, and on all the subordinate active means by which they may be promoted. Let us consider religion as consisting more in action, than in speculation. Let our love to Christian brethren be founded, not so much on a general coincidence of opinion, as on the resemblance they bear to the Divine image; and then we may confidently expect, that that period wil. soon approach, when the saints of God "shall see eye to eye," in reference to all the grand bearings of the Gospel scheme, and when the name of Jehovah shall be ONE throughout all the earth.

IV. We may learn from the subject we have been illustrating, what notions we ought to form of the NATURE of a future state of happiness, and of the PREPARATION requisite to enable us to engage in its employments.-The felicity of the future world will not consist simply in a change of place; nor will it consist chiefly in change of sentiment or opinion. Its foundation must be laid in the principle of Love, and in the complete renovation of the moral powers of the human mind, without which no celestial scene could produce permanent enjoyment. Although all the theologians who now exist were united in opinion about every article of the system of Divinity; and although they were transported to the most splendid world that revolves aroun the star Arcturus; after the first transports, arising from the novelty and the grandeur of the scene had subsided, they would enjoy little more happiness in that orb, than they do in this ter restrial sphere, unless they were actuated with moral dispositions and affections very different from those which many of them now display. For, not only rancour and malice, but even coldness and indifference to the welfare of others, would prevent happiness from being enjoyed in any region of the material universe. All who believe in the reality of a future world, indulge in anxious wishes to be made happy when they pass from this mortal scene to the world of spirits. Even wicked men, whose consciences frequently forebode evil to them in the other world, indulge the hope that God will ultimately De merciful to them, and admit them to the joys of heaven. But this is impossible, in the very nature of things, unless they be "renewed in the

spirit of their minds," and endowed with those noly dispositions which alone can qualify them for relishing substantial happiness, and for participating in "the inheritance of the saints of light." How could Malignity associate with Benevolence, Contention with Friendship, or War with Peace? How could the sons of fiscord dwell in unity, in an assembly where all .s harmony and love? How could the malicious and revengeful spirit find delight in the employments of kindness and pure benignity? How could the man who now finds his chief pleasure in hounding and horse-racing, in brawling and fighting, have any relish for the sublime adorations, the enraptured praises, and the lofty and refined contemplations, of the celestial inhabitants? The thing is impossible, unless the moral order of all worlds were completly subverted. Such characters will be banished from the abodes of bliss; not by any arbitrary decree of the Almighty, but in virtue of the moral constitution of the intelligent universe.

It is, therefore, evident, that the happiness of heaven must be founded upon the exercise of love, affection, harmony, perfect good-will to fellowintelligences, and the infinite variety of ramifications into which such principles may diverge; combined with profound, enlightened, and venerable views and affections, in relation to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When these and similar dispositions are uniformly exercised, without the least mixture of any one ingredient of moral evil, it is easy to conceive, with what transports of delight the inhabitants of heaven will contemplate the displays of Divine Power, Wisdom, and Goodness, and investigate the history of his dispensations in the moral government of our world, and in the arrangements of all the other worlds whose physical and moral economy may be laid open to their view.* Such views are in perfect accordance with the representations of Scripture." Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord." "The pure in heart (and they alone) shall see God." 66 Nothing that worketh abomination, can enter within the gates of the heavenly city." "As we have borne the image of the earthly, (says the Apostle,) so shall we bear the image of the heavenly." "Christ Jesus gave himself for the church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it, and that he might present it to himself a glorious church, holy, and without blemish." The crown of glory, reserved in heaven for the faithful, is designated "a crown of righteousness."

"The

The Author will have an opportunity of illus trating this topic in more minute detail, in a work entitled, "The Philosophy of a Future state; or, an Eternal World, and of the Aids which its discoveries afford, for enabling us to form a conception of he perpetual improvement of the celestial inhabitants in knowledge and felicity."

Illustration of the Connexion of Science with the

spirits of just men," in the future word, " are made perfect," freed from every taint of moral pollution, and unrestrained in the exercise of their moral powers. The inheritance to which they are destined, is "undefiled" with the least stain of corruption, or with the example of impure and malignant spirits. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we shall be like him" transformed into his moral image, and animated with those Divine principles and virtues, which he displayed in his conduct, when he tabernacled among men. The saints shail walk with him in white," an emblem of their perfect moral purity; "they shall receive an inheritance among them that are sanctified;" and "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; for the former things shall have passed away."

V. From the preceding illustrations we may learn something of the nature and essence of fü ture punishment. If the exercise of love, in all its diversified modifications, constitutes the foundation and the essence of happiness, the unrestrained operations of malevolence must be the source and the sum of misery. We cannot form a more dreadful picture of future punishment, than by conceiving the principles of falsehood, deceit, and malignity, and the passions of pride, hatred, malice, and revenge, raging with uncontrolled and perpetual violence. We need represent to ourselves nothing more horrible in the place of punishment, than by supposing the Almighty simply to permit wicked men to give full scope to their malevolent dispositions; leaving them "to eat of the fruit of their own ways, and to be filled with their own devices." The effects produced by the uncontrolled operation of such principles and passions would be such, as may be fitly represented by the emblems of " the worm that never dies," of" devouring fire," and of their necessary concomitants, "weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." (See Chap. II. Sect. iv. pp. 55. 58.) What other ingre dients of misery, arising either from local circumstances, from the recollection of the past, or the anticipation of the future, may be mingled with the cup of future wo, it becomes not us particularly to determine. And, whether this scene of misery will ever come to a termination, must be determined by the consideration, whether the effects produced by such a punishment will have a tendency to produce repentance and reformation on the minds of the sufferers. If, after a lapse of ages, the principles of hatred to God, and to surrounding intelligences, continue to operate with increasing violence, without producing the least desire of returning to their allegiance to God, or the least symptom of reformation,-then, we may conclude, that the misery of wicked intelligences will continue so long as they remain in existence.