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DOCTRINAL OBSTRUCTION OF THE TRUTH.

Christians, to receive every little child in the name of our Lord and Master. There is an obstacle far more difficult to be overcome, because it militates, not against the practice, which has been recommended, but against the very principle, on the ground of which alone that practice can ever be effectually enforced or adopted. There are many who, although agreeing in the whole, or in most of what has been said, concerning the responsibility of the community for the temporal and eternal welfare of its members, and concerning the baneful and deplorable consequences of the present system, will, nevertheless, stand out with all their might against the acknowledgment of the fundamental principle, on the truth and vital apprehension of which both, the reality of the view which has been taken of the subject, and the efficacy of its practical adaptation to the wants of our age, entirely depend.

There are many who, in matters of education as well as in others, are ready to admire, and, if it be urged, to put on" a form of godliness," but who, at the same time, "deny the power thereof." But what is the form without the power, the letter without the spirit?-Nothing but a whited sepulchre, full of dead men's bones. Away then, with the idea of a compromise of principle, by which popularity might indeed be gained to the subject, and an apparent success insured, but at the expense of all that renders it worth advocating-so that our last state would be worse than our first. I am aware, that what I have said already, is sufficient to turn away from me all those with whom a deep interest in religion, and a conviction of the necessity of its universal application to the affairs of men, is a ground of decided objection, and a source of unconquerable prejudice; and it may therefore seem unwise, that I should engage in a controversy, which will at once enlist in the ranks of my adversaries, not only the greatest, but also the most busy, the most zealous, and the most influential part of what is termed the religious world. But it is not my object to gain men, unless it be, that I may gain them to the truth,

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and so I have no motive, even if I had a right, to waive the truth, for the sake of gaining them. But I have more than one motive, because more than one call of duty, to declare it as explicitly, as emphatically, as possible. Even with reference to the success of the cause which I am advocating, my only wisdom is, to speak out boldly, in defiance of all prejudice and of all narrow-mindedness,—in defiance of the deafness, which I may produce in the notreligious, and of the slander which I may call forth, in the religious world. My observation has furnished me with but too many instances, in which a good, a great, and sacred object, however fully understood by those with whom it originated, was entirely marred in its progress, and ultimately defeated, by an anxiety of gaining the popular voice in its favour, which led to endless modifications and qualifications of the original purpose. Such men-pleasing prudence may become the worldling, who has nothing to rely on, for the attainment of his object, but his own strength, and his own means; but it is utterly unworthy of the Christian, who is labouring for the fulfilment, not of his own, but of the divine purpose, and who, therefore, if he have any faith, must implicitly rely on the power, and on the means of Him, in whose service he is engaged. The slightest temptation to suppress one iota of the truth, from the fear of men, or from the desire of pleasing them, is an evidence that the spirit of this world has yet a hold upon his soul-and the great extent to which this is the case in the present day, among the bulk of Christian professors, is the chief prop of all the bigotry and sectarianism, by which this generation is defiling the pure doctrine of Jesus. It is in vain, that this cowardice covers its nakedness with the cloak of charity; that spirit which foregoeth.or compoundeth the truth from a wish for popularity, is a far more cowardly, a far more unfaithful spirit, than that, which denies it under the influence of fear; and so far from deserving the name of christian charity, it ought to be stigmatized as enmity against

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COMPROMISE NO CHARITY.

Christ. The conviction that this spirit of pseudo-charity, this pharisaical hankering after religious popularity, or, in other words, after the assent and applause of the nameprofessing multitude, is the Samiel of our age, the dry wind of the high places,' by which the seed of religion among us is blasted before it be grown up-would in itself be a sufficient inducement, to depart from the general practice, and, in defence of truth and principle, to make a determined stand against public opinion. But this duty becomes still more imperative, if, as is the case in the present instance, the principle to be proclaimed or advocated be one of the most vital importance, one which involves in its consequences every relationship and every department of human life, and which, if once acknowledged, and brought into practice, will operate the most radical and the most universal reform. On such a subject consciously to compromise, is a heinous sin-in such a matter, to proclaim the truth on the house-tops, is a sacred obligation.

I have thus prefaced what I have to say, respecting the fundamental principle of all truly Christian education, of that education, to which alone I would give theoretically my assent, and practically my assistance, because, willing as I am, to engage in a controversy, where it is needed, nothing is more discordant with my feelings, or more abhorrent from my principles, than a controversial spirit. Neither would I advocate one single idea, because it happens to be mine, nor would I controvert any opinion, because it happens to be that of some other man, or party of men. All I seek, is the truth, which, I hope, I am sincerely willing to acknowledge, wherever it is to be met with; and in the same manner do I invite others, whatever be their creed or their denomination, to forget every permay sonal consideration, every love of party, and every attachment to system, every regard for human authority, as well as every conceit of fancied sources of illumination, whether designated by a profane or a sacred name, and strictly and

THE LIGHT THAT LIGHTETH EVERY MAN.

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exclusively to adhere to what is consistent with the records of revelation, and with that internal light of the Divine Spirit, by which alone the letter can receive life and understanding, as by it alone both the mysteries of our own bosom, and the hidden things of God are made manifest to of our mind.

the

eye

The principle, to which I thus solemnly call your attention, as forming the basis of all true education, is not one of my own establishing, or of my own discovering; neither is it a new one; it is as old as the human species, and its knowledge is as old as the Christian dispensation; but, nevertheless, its import is still but inadequately apprehended by those who admit it; and, by others, it is directly denied, in spite of the most express and most unequivocal declaration, the meaning of which cannot be evaded, but by a strange perversion of terms. In that most interesting portion of the holy scriptures, in which the beloved apostle draws the veil from the mysterious nature of his Divine Master, and acquaints us with his preexistence from eternity, as the everlasting Word, which was with God from the beginning, and with the relation which he bore to a fallen world, previously to his appearance in the flesh, it is expressly declared that He by whom "all things were made," who has the power of making those that receive him "the sons of God," who " was made flesh and dwelt among us," was "the light of men," that “true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world;" and to obviate every occasion of stumbling, which might arise out of the contrast between the import of that declaration, and the actual state of human kind, it is added, that, although he was in the world, "the world knew him not," that "he came unto his own, but his own received him not ;" that "the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not." It is difficult to conceive how the great truth contained in this declaration could be evaded by those who profess to believe in the letter of it, nay, by those who, with an intolerance unparalleled even by the

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TO BE UNDERSTOOD LITERALLY.

most bigoted Romanism, will permit none but the most literal interpretation of scripture. Why then, ye that are haters of all spiritualizing interpretations, ye that cleave to the letter, and to the letter only, why then do ye spiritualize this declaration of mercy, made unto all men, and for the benefit of all, so as to confine its import to that small number, to which your vain conceits would fain exclusively appropriate the gifts of heavenly grace? Why then, ye that are literal every where, where you ought to be spiritual, are you not literal here ? Here it is written literally :-"That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"—why do you not believe in this literally? It is written again literally of this light, that it "shineth in darkness;" and although no one will deny that ye are darkness, yet it is spiritualizing too much to suppose that ye are the only darkness! Why then do ye affect to think, that where the world is spoken of, it meaneth but you, and where darkness is spoken of, that again it meaneth but you? Why are ye so loth to admit, that ye and all your brethren are forming one world of darkness, in which, by the mercy of God, the light still shineth-that although it shineth in all and unto all, yet it is comprehended, fully comprehended by none, and received but by a few? Consider of this; for it is an awful presumption for the creature who itself standeth in need of mercy, to restrict the mercy of the most merciful. Why do ye wrest the declarations of the Lord, and why, taking possession of the gates of the kingdom, of which he hath never appointed you the keepers, do ye obstruct the way of those who are desirous of entering? O ye blind leaders of the blind!

Is it not in consequence of your traditions, of your catechisms, and creeds, in consequence of the bigoted spirit with which you oppress, by all means in your power, every one that doth not conform himself to your interpretations, but looketh to the Spirit of whom the Scriptures testify, rather than to you, of whom neither the Scriptures