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on this, as on every other subject. But your system teaches, that the throne of David is to be reëstablished, and is to obtain the ascendency over the world. Whether the kingdom of the Messiah is expected to be strictly universal, or merely to assume a higher rank than any other, is difficult to ascertain. In either case, the world must go back, not merely to limited monarchy but to Oriental despotism; for it cannot be supposed that the cause of liberty elsewhere can survive the shock inflicted by a heavenly declaration in favor of monarchy, which will thus be made in Judea. The longexploded doctrine of the divine right of kings will gain more plausibility and more believers than it ever yet lost. Nor will the difficulty be met, should all the world become one great political kingdom, over which the Messiah is to reign; for it is the character of the system, not of the individual ruler, which renders despotism an evil; and as you believe, that the Messiah, however great, however perfect, will be a man, it is impossible that the influence of his personal qualities should correct the evils which must result from the deadening influence of arbitrary power throughout his universal empire. And should the Messiah, after reaching the usual limit of human existence, transmit his crown to a successor, it is obvious that unless human nature be changed, or a continual series of miracles be employed, no very effectual provision will have been made for the preservation of the Jewish ascendency, or of the peace of the world. The sceptre of the ruler at Jerusalem will scarcely be long acknowledged by the remoter provinces of his empire, and half a century of peace may be succeeded by a thousand years of war, before the nations are established again in their ancient limits and their ancient independence.

Our principle, that a spiritual religion alone can be adapted to the human mind, in every stage of its advancement, may be further illustrated by reference to the subject of sacrifices. These forms were in ancient times highly useful, to interest the thoughts in the service of which they were a part; they were an easier method of worship than any other, and better adapted to the human mind as it then existed. It was necessary that the Supreme Being should be publicly worshipped, in order to keep alive in the minds of men a sense of their connexion with him. But a service consisting of prayer alone would have possessed

little to interest a people whose intellectual nature had not yet been thoroughly developed. Sacrifices therefore were appointed, with all their accompaniments of state and splendor, - something external, visible, imposing. The Christian religion did not prescribe a form of service, but left it to successive ages to adopt whatever might be best suited to their wants; and the rituals of the Catholic and Greek churches have been in many respects judiciously adapted to a people not yet prepared for simpler and more spiritual worship. But if your religion be restored in Palestine, all admit that it is to be restored in its splendor, with its temples, its sacrifices, its festivals, and all the apparatus of external magnificence. Are these things suited to an advanced, an intellectual age? As an instance of the degree to which external worship has lost its hold upon mankind, we may turn to the emblematic service of fasting. Fasting is a symbol of sorrow; and, for thousands of years, it has been employed, in many cases undoubtedly with the best effects, in softening and humbling the heart by the ideas it suggested. But at present among Christians, in this country at least, the rite is seldom observed. Its very meaning seems to have been generally forgotten. Why is this? Is there less piety now than in former days, or are we less able to deny ourselves a trifling indulgence? Neither, we may trust; but men are now more accustomed to think than they have been; they find less difficulty in fixing their thoughts on religious subjects, without the assistance of external symbols; these therefore become unnecessary, and lose that reverence which the community formerly paid to them. Such is the present age; its mental light is increasing continually. The age of temples and altars has passed by; and religion has become, and is becoming more and more, a thing of the heart and of the life.

The Christian system, from its spiritual character, is adapted to the human spirit upon which it is to act. It is the nature of the mind to yield to the influence of motives; and Christianity consequently exercises its sway by presenting motives of action. It thus claims an affinity with the highest part of our nature, with those powers by which we compare, select, and decide, with our reason, our affections, our will. But such is not the influence which the Messiah, according to your conception of him, is expected

to exert. Glowing descriptions are given of the universal happiness which is in his days to be enjoyed. War will no longer exist; even dumb animals will lose their ferocity, and the prophecy of Isaiah (chap. xi.) will be literally fulfilled. This result, it appears, will be produced by a direct agency exerted on the minds of men by the Supreme Being. "The new covenant promised to us," says one of your writers, "will contain one more condition to be performed on the part of God, to wit, that he will not suffer us to be exposed to the weakness of our own natures, but will write the law which he gave us at Sinai on our hearts; in consequence, we 'shall have no inclination to transgress it any longer; the first covenant was conditional, the new will be absolute and unconditional." In this respect, it appears that the operation of the Christian system is more spiritual, more in conformity with the nature of the human mind. All that has been seen of the world thus far shows us, that man is a being placed between good and evil, and left free to make his choice; and that the author of his existence operates upon him, by presenting motives to the course of virtue. It is from this, that the value of good conduct originates; the obedience of one who could not help obeying would be worthless. Such has been human nature in time past, and such it is at present. Shall its laws now be changed? Shall free agency be taken away, and man be reduced to the condition of a machine? Can it be otherwise, if the world is by a miraculous agency to be at once and inevitably brought into obedience to the law, written in their hearts in such a manner, that no volition is left to them whether to obey it or not? If such is to be the result, crime will indeed cease, but virtue will cease also; - there will be no more temptation, but there will be no more conquest over it. The human being, no longer the controller of his own actions, will be no longer responsible, no more the object of praise or blame. He will be perfect in the performance of every duty, but all will be done mechanically, and the highest part of his nature, the power to choose, to will, must be lost. Christianity on the other hand, aims to attain a higher perfection of our nature, by nobler means. It places before us the standard of God's law, as the object of our constant endeavours; it

*From "The Jew," Vol. II. No. 3. Reply to Camden.

tells us of temptations we must resist, of hardships we must bear, of powers we must exert, of heaven as our reward, and punishment and sin (in itself its own heaviest punishment) to be avoided. It thus sends us forth on a course of neverending progression; it influences the free mind of man, not by force, externally or internally applied, but by persuasion, by motives addressed to the self-determining power. It is therefore more conformed to human nature, more analogous to the general order of God's dispensations.

To point out this peculiarity of the method in which Christianity exerts its influence affords a sufficient answer to many of the objections which have been brought against the religion. It is asked "If God has spoken, why is not the whole world convinced?" We answer that the influence of the Gospel is moral, not compulsory, and that, were it otherwise, it would not be adapted to the free nature of the human mind; that consequently it has rightly been made to rest on arguments, which have been satisfactory to most enquirers, but which the mind is still free to reject. Is it asked, why Christianity has not more rapidly improved the condition of the world? why wars still exist? why other evils have been so slowly eradicated? A similar answer may be correctly given. It would not have been a religion, influencing accountable beings, but an act of sovereign power, altering the nature of the soul, if these effects had been produced otherwise than gradually. And its adaptation for universal influence may well be recognised in this peculiarity. It seldom directed itself explicitly against those abuses which formed a part of the national customs in its own age, but laid down principles of general application, enforced precepts for universal reception; and thus, without externally striking a single blow at existing institutions, it has been, by its influence on the hearts of men, gradually, but signally, remodelling human society. It said not a word against the gladiatorial combats of the Romans, yet these gave way before its silent influence. It said not a word against monarchy, but enforced on its converts an obedient and peaceable demeanor; yet never has the principle of despotism recovered from the shock which it gave. Silently, and gradually, has the Christian religion undermined the corruptions which existed before its day; and those which still remain in the

VOL. XV.-N. S. VOL. X. NO. I.

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world, will in the same manner, we trust, be superseded by its mild and quiet influence.

The spiritual character of Christianity displays itself in its reference to a future world. I would not deny that passages are to be found in the Old Testament, indicative of anticipations on the part of their writers, of an existence beyond the grave. But the idea is essential to the Christian system, while it is but incidental in the Jewish. The Gospel makes the reality of a future state the very foundation of its instructions and influences. It is in this chiefly that the Kingdom of Jesus is not of this world; " because it teaches us to regulate our actions with continual reference to another. Deprive Christianity of the motives, the hopes and fears of another life, and you remove from it all that constitutes its chief value; it is no longer the same. But take from the Jewish dispensation the few sentences which relate to a future state of being, and the change is not perceptible; the various commands retain the same sanction which before belonged to them; for all the motives, by which they were enforced, had reference to this world. Which system then, presents the most worthy ideas of God and his designs, of man, his destiny and his duty; - one which inculcates right conduct by motives drawn from this world alone, which tells us indeed of a future state, but leaves the subject there, and demands only our attention for the scene in which we dwell; ―or a system which informs us that it is for heaven that we were created, - which places eternal happiness before us, as the high mark, to which we should continually aspire, which regards this life as the preliminary stage of our existence, the period in which we are to mould our characters for eternity?

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One portion of my task still remains. As soon as the spiritual and universal character of the Christian dispensation was developed, a conclusion followed, highly unpleasing at first view, to the mind of a patriotic Israelite. This was, that the peculiar connexion between the Supreme Being and the Jewish people, was now at an end, that no one

nation was henceforth more sacred in the sight of Heaven than another. It is my wish to show that this change is not only worthy of the Supreme Being, but highly honorable to the Jewish nation; that its truth is in fact the only supposition upon which the divine origin of the Mosaic dispensation

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