he stated a case. There were two men, one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds; and the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb.

And the rich man spared to take of his own flocks to dress for a traveller, but took the poor man's lamb. David, looking at this deed as committed by another, and having his judgement thus freed from the bias of self-love, instantly pronounced the man who had done it worthy of death. Nathan then charged the deed upon David. "Thou art the man." David's conscience was roused; and with a penitent heart he said, "I have sinned against the Lord."

Jesus, with consummate skill, made use of the same principle in his parables. Always fixing upon the particular truth which was appropriate to the case, he presented it to view with great clearness, and in a manner perfectly adapted to guard against the blinding influence of passion, to suppress the disposition of men to self-justification, thoroughly to awaken their consciences, and to induce them to pass a just sentence upon themselves. There is no part of Scripture, from which we can derive more useful lessons as to the best manner of exhibiting the truths of religion in public and in private, than the parables of Christ. Let us study them again and again, and with increasing interest, for this very purpose.

When Peter addressed the Jews on the day of Pentecost, he did not go about to prove to them that they were moral and accountable beings, but by a proper exhibition of those truths which were specially applicable to their case, and suited to awaken their moral faculties, made them feel that they were moral and accountable. He charged them with crucifying Jesus of Nazareth, whom God had made both Lord and Christ. His discourse brought things to view which affected their consciences and their hearts, and led them to say, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?"

See how the Apostle Paul labors to awaken in the unbelieving and self-righteous Jews a sense of their violated obligations and their ill-desert. Instead of declaring to them that they have a conscience, he declares those plain and pungent truths which are suited to rouse conscience from its slumbers. Instead of telling them that they are intelligent moral agents, he endeavors to convince them that they are sinners, without excuse. And what kind of considerations does he address to them for this purpose? They are considerations adapted, not to an abstract intellect, but to the conscience and the heart. He says; "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemn

est thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgement of God is according to truth against them who commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them who do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up to thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds."-" Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things which are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light to them who are in darkness, &c. Thou therefore who teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest, a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery?-Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God?"*

This is only one instance of the plain, skilful, impressive manner, in which Paul labored to convince men of sin. Numerous other instances, equally striking, might easily be produced.

Go through the Scriptures, and you will find it a general fact, that those teachers who were inducd with wisdom from above, labored to impress the minds of men with a sense of their obligation as moral agents, not by asserting the fact of their moral agency, nor by discoursing on the grounds of moral obligation, but by holding forth and applying those momentous, holy truths, which were adapted to awaken their moral faculties, to convince them of sin, and lead them to repentance.

Now, brethren and fellow-laborers in the holy ministry, what better can we do, than to make ourselves familiar with the manner in which Christ and his prophets and apostles treated this momentous subject, and to regard them as our models? Who is able to make improvements upon the honest, affectionate, and faithful manner of the inspired teachers? Happy shall we be if, by all our efforts, we come up half way to this exalted and perfect standard. Let us study the sacred volume with more intenseness of thought, and more of the spirit of prayer; so that we may have our habit of thinking, reasoning,

*Rom. 2:1-6, and 17-23.

and feeling, and our mode of teaching, formed in this divine mould.

These then are the results of our reasoning thus far. The general and important fact, that man is a moral agent, and under perfect obligation to obey the divine law, is so evident and certain, that it needs no proof, and may properly be taken for granted by Christian preachers. Still, in consequence of the great spiritual blindness and stupidity which sin has brought upon the minds of men, much needs to be done to awaken them to a lively perception of their moral existence, and their high moral obligations. But what is the best manner of doing this? The inspired teachers generally labor to do it, not by directly asserting and proving that we have a moral nature, (which would be like asserting and proving to men whom you invite to see a picture or a landscape, that they have eyes, and are able to see; or to men whom you invite to a concert of music, that they have ears to hear;) but they labor to do it by a clear exhibition of the most important objects,-by an earnest and faithful declaration of the most plain, sacred, and moving truths. Let us pursue the same object in the same way, honoring the inspired volume, diligently following our infallible guide, and faithfully preaching God's holy law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that our hearers may never have cause to complain, that when they come as poor, perishing sinners, hungering for the bread of life, they are treated with a dry dissertation on the philosophy of the law, or the philosophy of the Gospel.

"PRETENSIONS OF THE EVANGELICAL CLASS."

A late number (Sept. 1831) of the Edinburg Review, under cover of a work purporting to form the subject of one of its articles, (A. V.) contains a severe attack on the principles and practice of the "Evangelical Class" of Christians. The writer of the article accuses this class of Christians of arrogant assumptions of preeminent piety; of false notions on the subject of public amusements, particularly theatres and ball-rooms; and of perverse misapplications of Scripture to the amusements which they reprobate, and to the doctrines which they uphold. Charges so serious, in a work of so high a character, and es

pecially as they are brought forward with great professions of candor, and supported by a lengthened array of arguments, are perhaps worthy of some notice and reply. How much soever we may prefer to let pass, unobserved, the common assaults of the enemies of religion, there are times when silence might be considered rather as a tacit acquiescence in deserved censure, than an exemplification of the spirit of our divine Master. But in the present instance, there are other reasons for refuting the slanderous accusations brought against the followers of Christ. The Article in question, although marked by the enmity of a heart unchanged by grace, and replete with falsehood and false reasoning, contains some truths;-truths which should cause the ears of Christians to tingle ;-truths which, even from an enemy, may become instruments of good, if they are made the subjects of frequent reflection and proper application to the conduct of life.

We shall, therefore, pass through the Article, noting the falseness of the statements, and the fallacy of the arguments, and paying due attention to the truths with which they are mingled.

The principal question discussed is, whether participation in the customary amusements of life place us among the class designated in Scripture as "the world,"-to whom reference is had when the disciples are commanded, 'Come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord,' &c. In answering this question, the author attempts to shew that the amusements of the world are not more sinful in their nature and tendency than many other pursuits, and that worldly mindedness is not to be inferred from participation in them.

Thus no attempt is made to justify these amusements on the ground of their intrinsic merits, as having a tendency to good, or even as harmless; but simply on the ground that, in comparison with other pursuits, they are no worse. Whether this mode of reasoning be satisfactory to the conscience and understanding of the author, we do not presume to decide; but in the judgement of serious Christians, it will be very unsatisfactory. If any thing evil is to be tolerated, adopted, supported, because there are other things as evil, what limit is there to the introduction of fashionable vice? What possibility of elevating the standard of either taste or morals? This is precisely the plea of the cut-throat, and highway-man; precisely the arguinent used by the retailer or wholesale vender of poison, to support himself in destroying individual character, breaking up the blessed enjoyments of home, rending asunder the bonds of society, and damning the souls of his fellow men. A cause is truly

weak, whose boldest advocate must lay the foundations of its defence on the rotten basis of a common corruption, the basis of defect and weakness in all other things beside.

The specification of the author's intended plan of argument is followed by the assertion, that the Evangelical class of Christians have made abstinence from these amusements, "which are no more sinful in their nature and tendency than many other pursuits," the only test of Christian character, without any reference whatever to the great moral evidences of the effect of religion on the mind. Now this assertion is utterly false. Nowhere, among even those who have most earnestly opposed the seductions of the theatre, and similar places of amusement, has abstinence and separation from them been made the sole test of religious character. It is true, that in looking for the evidences of a change from sin to holiness, from the love of the world and its toys, to a love for God and the infinite realities of an eternal state, Christians do rejoice to discover that disrelish for mere earthly pleasure, that contempt for worldly amusements, that abhorrence of the seductions of vice, which are the result of laying up treasures in heaven,-of following in the footsteps of our Lord. And it should be so. What relish can the ransomed soul, whose thoughts are on God and heaven, feel for the petty bubbles of mere idle pleasure? But never has this change of feelings with regard to amusements been made the sole test of Christian character. Much less has it ever been allowed to serve as a shield to cover the absence of other evidences of religious affections.

In pursuing the argument, that the public amusements spoken of are no worse than other pursuits, the author endeavors to shew, that the Evangelical class engage in other pursuits as sinful in their nature and tendency as worldly pleasures. He also asserts (what is not true) that this class proudly assume for themselves perfect innocence of the crime of abusing the things of life;-a sin of which all men are more or less guilty, and exemption from which no class of Christians ever yet dared claim.

The illustration of the proposition that the Evangelical class are engaged in pursuits as bad as worldly amusements is given in the fact, that they are as deeply engaged-as completely absorbed as other men, in the pursuit after wealth. A most appalling picture is then drawn, from the scriptures-of the sinfulness of this service of mammon; and from the life-of the devotion with which professed Christians engage in the service; and although the coloring be exaggerated by an unhallowed imagination, yet in its principal features the delinea