Favors received for Christ's sake.

Illustration.

frequency in human life, than the other. There calls at your door, late at night, a wandering stranger, and asks admittance. He seems destitute and wretched, and as it is not convenient, and perhaps not even safe, to adinit him into your family, you very properly direct him to a public house at a little distance, and supply him with the means of procuring a reception there. Just as he is leaving you, you think you recognise something familiar in his features, and on inquiring his name, you find he is the son of one of your dearest and earliest friends. How quick do you change your plan, and bid him welcome, and endeavor to repay by your hospitality to him, the favors you received in days long past, from his father. But why? It is no return to the father. He is long since in his grave. Why; do I ask? There is an universal, and almost instinctive feeling in the human heart, leading us, under certain circumstances, to make such moral substitutions, to show favor to one, on account of obligation to another. The apostle Paul understood this principle, when he sent back Onesimus to his master, and endeavored to secure for him a kind reception by saying, "If thou count me a partner, receive him as myself.

The reader will perceive that it has not been our object, in the preceding illustrations, to find a parallel among human transactions for the great plan adopted in the government of God, to render safe the forgiveness of human sins. Such a parallel, precisely, cannot be found. All that we have been attempting to show is, that the principles upon which the plan is based, have a deep seated foundation in the very constitution of the human mind, and that they are constantly showing themselves, more or less perfectly, whenever a real moral government is intelligently administered here. We must look however for such exemplifications of these princi

Political governments.

one.

ples, in the government of the young, for in no other case in this world, is a government properly a moral The administration of law in a political community, is a different thing altogether. It is simply the enforcement of a system of rules of action, designed almost exclusively for the prevention of injury. In a moral government, strictly so called, one mind superior to the others, presides over a community of minds, and acts upon them in his administration with reference to their moral welfare. He looks beyond mere external action, adapts his measures to moral wants and moral feelings, and aims at an influence over hearts. A political government, though often confounded with this, is distinct in its nature, and aims at different objects. It attempts only the protection of the community against injury. Its province is to regulate external actions, not to purify and elevate the feelings of the heart; and it does this by endeavoring to enforce certain prescribed rules, relating almost exclusively to overt acts, and designed merely to prevent injury. This difference in the nature and design of a political government, and of a moral government, strictly so called, is fundamental, and it applies with peculiar force to the subjects we are considering. In fact there is, properly speaking, no such thing as forgiveness, in human jurisprudence. Legal provision is indeed made for what is called pardon; but this is, in theory, a mode of arresting punishment, where evidence, not brought forward at the trial, comes to light afterwards, or where peculiar circumstances which the strict principles of law could not recognise, render it equitable to remit the sentence. In practice, it goes indeed sometimes farther than this. In some cases the executive, overcome by compassion for the criminal, liberates him, at the risk of sacrificing the public good. In others, by a common though tacit understanding, pardons are granted so uniformly in certain euses, as to

No forgiveness provided for by human laws.

4

amount to a permanent modification of the law. But all this is entirely different from real forgiveness. It is, in fact, only discretionary power, lodged in suitable hands, to modify the inflexible decisions of law, when equity, in peculiar circumstances, demands their modification,— it is not real forgiveness. Real forgiveness in political government has no place. We must look therefore, among the young, where alone we find that anything like moral training is the object of government, for illustrations of the principles of God's administration. We shall find them however here. A wise parent or teacher, who acts intelligently, and watches the operation of moral causes and effects upon the hearts under his care, will often, though perhaps insensibly, adopt these principles, and will imitate, almost without knowing it, the plans of the great Father of all. We certainly shall find abundant examples of the operation of those principles which we have been endeavoring to bring to view: viz. that the object of punishment is not to gratify resentment against an individual, but desire to promote the welfare of the community; that it cannot safely be remitted, unless there is something to take its place, and to do its work, in producing moral impression; and that this generally cannot be done without the suffering of some one who is innocent.

We have dwelt upon this subject perhaps long enough already, but it is so essential to the peace and happiness of the young Christian, clearly to understand it, that we will present it in one other point of view. Let us suppose a father, when sitting with his children around his evening fire, accidentally learns that one of them has played truant during the day. He has been guilty of the same offence once or twice before, and the measures which were adopted then, have proved to be ineffectual Now there are plainly two distinct feelings which may lead the father to inflict punishment: I mean here by

Two motives for punishment.

Their operation in this case.

punishment, any means whatever of giving him pain, either by severe reproof, or deprivation of enjoyment, or direct suffering. There are two distinct feelings which may prompt him to inflict punishment. First he may be a passionate man, and feel personal resentment against the boy, and punish him under the influence of those feelings; a case exceedingly common. Secondly, without feeling any resentment, but rather looking with tender compassion upon his son, he may see the necessity of doing something effectual to stop this incipient sin, and to prevent its extending to his other children. If now the former is the father's feeling,- an emotion of resentment and passion, on account of the trouble which the fault has caused, and is likely to cause him, there is no hope for the poor offender;— resentment can only be gratified by the suffering of the object of it. If, on the other hand, the feeling is only a calm, though perhaps anxious regard for the moral safety and happiness of his family, there is some hope; for punishment in this case, would only be resorted to on account of its promoting this safety and happiness, by the moral impression it would make, and there may perhaps be some other way of accomplishing this object. But let us look at this more particularly.

The reason why truancy is so serious an evil, is not the loss of a day or two at school, now and then,— or any other immediate and direct consequence of it. It is because it is the beginning of a long course of sin; it leads to bad company, and to deception, and to vicious habits; it stops the progress of preparation for the duties of life, and hardens the heart, and opens the door for every temptation and sin, which, if not closed, must bring the poor victim to ruin. These are what constitute its dangers. Now the difficulty with the boy is, that he does not see these things. He is spiritually blind, and argument and persuasion will not open his

Substitute for punishment.

eyes.

Punishment is therefore necessary to make such an impression upon his mind and that of the others, as to arrest the progress of the sin. It may be confinement. It may be some disgrace or deprivation; or suffering in any other form. If it is however judiciously administered, and in a proper spirit, it must have an effect, and it may remove the evil altogether.

But there may be some other way of accomplishing the object, that is, of producing the needed impression. Let us suppose such a way. Let us imagine that after learning that his son had been guilty of the offence, the father gives no indications of resentment, or any other personal feeling, but begins to think what he can do to arrest the evil, without bringing suffering upon his boy. At last he says, "My boys: I want you all to understand what the real nature of truancy is. I shall, however, say no more about it now, but to-morrow I shall wish you to go and take a walk with me.”

The boys look forward with eager interest to the time, and when it arrives, the father takes them to a neighboring poorhouse, where lies a man sick, and suffering excruciating pains under the power of diseases brought on by vice. We may suppose the father to have been accidentally acquainted with the case. The boys enter the large and dreary apartment, crowded with beds, tenanted by misery in every form; for there is an apartment in every extensive poorhouse, where you may see the very extreme of human wo,- the last earthly stage of the broad road, where life lingers in forms of most excessive misery, as if to show how much the mysterious principle can endure. On one narrow couch, foaming mania glares at you, on another lies sightless, senseless, torpid old age, a picture of indescribable decrepitude and deformity;- from a third, you hear the groans and see the restless tossing of acute suffering,— and gibbering idiocy laughs upon a fourth, with a noise which